Comfort & Joy
by Second Harrier
Summary: Christmastime descends on Arendelle, bringing with it the cold chill of Winter. Can Queen Elsa resist the season's frigid embrace?
1. God Rest You Merry

This story will contain neither sex nor gore nor foul language. However, it still might not be everyone's cup of tea. You'll understand when we get there.

* * *

Chapter 1

"Oof... Ooff... How about... oooff... how about now?"

"Hmmm..." Anna held her hand in front of her with her thumb up. She closed one eye. She stuck out her tongue. "A little to the left."

"Oh, come on!" Kristoff nearly grunted.

"Look, trust me, a little to the left," Anna said. "It'll be perfect."

With another heavy grunt, Kristoff wrapped his burly arms around the enormous fir tree sitting in the middle of the ballroom. His breath came hard as he lifted it off the ground, and a burst of panic filled him when he heard something in his back _pop_. But his spine didn't shatter, his knees didn't buckle, he seemed all right. So he shuffled backward, dragging the tree and its heavy iron stand to the left.

"Stop!" Anna cried. "Right there!"

With another deep grunt, Kristoff lowered the tree. The stand _clanged_ on the red carpeting where it came down. He took a step back, panting. "Well?"

Anna again stuck out her thumb, stuck out her tongue, and closed one eye. "Yes... yes, that's perfect!" she exclaimed.

Kristoff's annoyance at moving the tree- which he had been doing for about half an hour now- dissipated when Anna's happiness was on full display. She was particularly radiant today, clad in black and plumb velvet, her hair in loops. He took a few steps back to admire his own work, where he happened to line up with Sven sitting on the marble floor. "Well, buddy?" Kristoff nodded toward the tree. "What do you think? Not bad, eh?"

'Yeah, Kristoff, looks really great!' said 'Sven.'

"Elsa!" Anna cried.

"Hm?" Elsa said softly. She was standing at the window, peering out into the snowy drifts that lined the banks of the fjord. She stepped out of the darkness into the roaring firelight, her graceful features seeming all the more otherworldly in the flickering flames. She wore a deep blue dress adorned with the white geometry of snowflakes.

"The tree, silly!" Anna said. "What do you think of it?"

"Oh," Elsa said. "It's... nice, I guess." Unseen by all of them, she began to run her thumbs across her palms. Like they were itching. She tilted her head to the side. "I suppose you could move it a little to the right."

"Uuggghhhh..." Kristoff groaned, falling to his knees.

Elsa suppressed a giggle. "No, it's fine. It's perfect. I'll have the staff start decorating tomorrow."

"The tree is up!" Anna exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air. "The tree is up! Christmastime is officially here! God Jul!"

"God Jul!" Kristoff bellowed, rushing to her and lifting her off the ground.

Elsa sighed to watch them, so happy, so warm. Not like her. She was always cold. She glanced back toward the window. A light snow had begun to fall outside. "God Jul..." she whispered. _Two days til the Solstice._ If she could make it through that, she would be fine. At least, that's what she told herself.


	2. Let Nothing You Dismay

You can hum whatever tune you like to Elsa's song. I can write lyrics, but not music.

* * *

Chapter 2

The calendar hanging on her study had one date circled in deep blue ink. No, not circled; rather, a snowflake had been drawn around it. Elsa tried to keep her eyes focused on the trade summaries and weather reports that littered her desk, jotting down notes to bring up with her advisers in her neat, tidy script. But her mind, and eyes, kept wandering. If not to the window, than to the calendar, and the date that was highlighted there.

December 21st.

The Winter Solstice.

Tomorrow.

And her bones itched inside her skin. "Calm down," she whispered. "Just make it through tomorrow. It will have to get better." The Winter Solstice, as anyone trained in astronomy knew, was the shortest day and the longest night of the year. It was the first day of winter, when cold and darkness were at their apex. Even though a long winter lay ahead after the solstice, that day- that night- would be the height of its powers. Her ancestors, those who had raided and worshiped in the wilds, had known the Solstice's power. And it was a power, especially to Elsa.

Around the middle of November, Elsa had felt something _stirring_ within her. It was like a pricking of her bones, an itch in her muscles, a tug on her mind. She had never felt it in previous autumns, but of course, in previous autumns she had been working as hard as possible to hide her icy magic. Now, with the love of her sister and her people, with her secret exposed to the world, Elsa allowed her magic to flow freely- she had let it go. And it seemed that said magic had attracted the attention of _something_ in the cold and snow. Something that had begun gently scraping on the doorway of her soul in the middle of November.

It was knocking loudly now, so insistent that Elsa could barely pay attention to her queenly duties. She had canceled all the week's meetings with her advisers, ostensibly to give them a Christmas holiday, but really because she doubted she could have paid attention during their reports. She had, entirely unwittingly, been spending less time with Anna and Kristoff too, which was causing her younger sister no small amount of consternation. But Elsa didn't notice such things.

What she did notice was the cold outside. The frigid bite of the air. The snow that was coming down right now; it had started lightly a few hours ago, but was now much heavier, a thick carpet of white settling on Arendelle. With a curt breath, Elsa pushed away from her desk, and wandered to the window. White flakes were hitting it, softly falling against the backdrop of the slate gray sky. Elsa clutched her arms around herself and began to pace back and forth. She began to sing under her breath.

_The Winter calls me quietly,_

_It doesn't need to shout._

_It begs me open up the door_

_To see what it's about._

_It tells me it has things to show me,_

_Secret, weird and strange._

_It asks if it might make suggestions_

_So that I might change._

On wild impulse, Elsa went to her window and undid the lock. The window swung open, and she stepped outside onto the sill that ran around the castle roof. The city was mostly empty, the snowstorm having driven nearly everyone inside.

**DONG, DONG, DONG, DONG.**

The bells of the great cathedral were ringing, calling folk to the evening Mass. And when Elsa squinted, she could in fact see a small crowd hurrying up the ancient stone steps. Elsa turned away. Once upon a time, when she was young and very afraid, she had read tales about demons and witches and worried she was one. Her mother had told her that if that were the case, she would not be able to stand the sound of church bells. So hearing them always brought her some comfort. But they could not chase away the _itch_.

_The Winter calls me softly,_

_But it might as well have yelled._

_I find I can't ignore it,_

_Even with the tolling bells._

_My friends, my sister and my people_

_All have their own cries,_

_I say they're most important,_

_But my heart knows my head lies._

Elsa had walked all the way to the edge of the roof, peering down into the courtyard. With a mighty wave of her hand, she produced a staircase of ice, which she used to walk down into the courtyard. The fountains were still billowing their water, though the snowstorm dampened their flow. Elsa flicked her wrist and both fountains froze. Using her magic was like scratching the itch; it made it go away a little. But it kept returning stronger than ever. Elsa glanced up into the sky, could feel the snow falling down, could feel a little of herself in every single flake.

She walked out through the gates, onto the bridge connecting the castle with the city. It afforded her an unobstructed view across the fjord, to where the mighty glacier crashed into the water. The ice was talking to her, whispering sweet nothings in her ear. Her singing grew louder, her voice carried as if by magic through the swirling storm. She leapt onto one of the lamp posts and leaned out toward the fjord, toward the glacier.

_The Winter calls me gently, tells me_

"_You belong out here._

_Your place is with the drifts and glaciers_

_Hard and sharp and clear._

_Fling off your shawl! Embrace the ice!_

_Leave mortal flesh behind!_

_Be one with all that's cold and white_

_Until the end of time!"_

Elsa leapt down from the lamppost and hurried into the city, her cloak billowing behind her. She spun and twirled, dancing in the driving snow, delighting in every cold touch of the flakes on her face. She closed her eyes in glee. She had once told Anna that the cold didn't bother her. But it was more than that. The cold not only didn't bother her, it _delighted_ her. The chill that drove others indoors to their fires pushed her out into the world, because she adored its feel against her skin.

"Queen Elsa! Queen Elsa!"

She stopped and turned. A gaggle of small children was standing on the steps leading to a lowered portion of the nearby square. They were dressed warmly, and their smiles stirred a similar warmth in Elsa's heart. "Hello, my children," she said gently.

"Psst! Bow and curtsey!" one of the little girls whispered, so loudly that Elsa could easily hear. It made her smile, and she stifled a giggle when the little girls curtseyed and the little boys bowed.

"There's no need for that," she said. "What do you need?"

"Well, we wanted to all go skating," said one of the little boys.

"But the pond's too far! Our parents won't let us leave the city!" said one of the little girls.

Elsa gave them a smile. "I think I can help with that. Stand back."

With cries of delight the children stepped away from the lowered portion of the square. Elsa bent down, brought her open hand up to her mouth, and _blew_. Frozen tendrils of her magic swarmed out and hit the lowered portion of the square, covering it in a layer of ice several inches thick. Elsa motioned toward it, and the children whooped with glee as they ran to the ice, most of them remembering to stop and sit to put on their skates.

Elsa turned away as they began to laugh and play. They were so happy. They saw the winter as a wonderland, a joy ride, something to be appreciated and then escaped. They didn't need it like Elsa did. They didn't _crave_ it. Elsa sang softly as she turned back to look at the castle.

_The Winter calls me tenderly,_

_As with a lover's tone._

_And how I wish that in this hour_

_My heart was as a stone._

_I eat, I sleep, I live, I laugh, and_

_Do what people do,_

Elsa looked hopelessly up into the sky. Every snowflake she saw, every snowflake that hit her face, amplified her terrible yearning.

_But still the Winter calls to me._

_I can't ignore- what to do?_

The answer came at her like a cannonball. _Anna!_ She didn't have to be alone any more. She didn't have to shut people out. If anyone in the world could keep the Winter from claiming her, it was Anna. She had the warmth and light and love to drive away the snow.


	3. When We Were Gone Astray

I'll go ahead and tell you that the archbishop is not secretly plotting against Elsa and Anna. He does, however, have some relevance to the final resolution of the story.

* * *

Chapter 3

Anna was reading in bed that evening, peering through some of the delightful picture books Arendelle had begun importing from Corona. The nation was famed for its illuminators, and they certainly knew how to make a book beautiful. She took particular joy in the volume currently resting on her lap, detailing the exploits of her great heroine, Joan of Arc. But she was taken from her reading when she heard footsteps of a very particular weight tramping down the hall. "Kristoff?"

"Yeah?" he said, peering into her room. His tone grew sheepish when he saw her in her gown in bed. "I can go if you want."

"No, come in," Anna said. She put on what she thought was a come-hither expression. "Actually, make yourself at home... big boy."

Kristoff arched an eyebrow, but nevertheless entered her room. "Huh, I've never been in here before."

"And isn't that a shame?" Anna exclaimed. She tossed aside her covers and crawled up her bed; Kristoff was standing at the foot. She got on her knees and pecked him on the nose. "You should stay in here whenever you're in the palace."

Kristoff glanced downward. "I'd like that. I'd really, really like that..." his deep brown eyes tried to ignore the way Anna's chest heaved in and out. "But I'd hate to put that on Elsa."

"Come on, Kristoff!" Anna flopped back across her bed, purposefully spreading her legs a little too wide. "Elsa knows all about what we do. And she's totally fine with it. She loves me. She _likes_ you, a _lot_. It would be okay with her."

"It's not that I disagree," Kristoff said, "but I'd really like to maintain her trust. She's been so kind and gracious to me so far-"

"Oh, why don't you just start sleeping with her if you like her so much," Anna huffed. But her expression changed almost instantly from disgruntled to fascinated. "Actually... wow, that would be really hot. Hoo, I might have to watch that."

"Ah- ah- I-" Kristoff tried to back away and move forward at the same time, so inevitably he tripped, falling forward onto the bed, face colliding with the middle of Anna's nightgown. Anna glanced down at him in mortification.

"Anna!" Elsa's voice suddenly rang through the quiet hallways. Elsa's light footsteps pattered quickly down the hall, until she burst through the half-open door to her sister's room. "Anna, I- I..." she stopped dead, eyes going wide at the sight of Kristoff's head buried in Anna's crotch. "I..." Elsa was shocked... for a little bit. Then she chuckled. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised."

"Dah!" Kristoff stood bolt upright. "Ah, ah, Your Highness, it's not what it looks like!"

"No, I don't care about that," Elsa said. "I'm actually very happy you're here, Kristoff. I need you. I need both of you."

"Uh, Elsa," Anna said, her teeth lightly clenched, "not that I don't love you dearly, but, _uh_," she threw he head toward Kristoff, "I'm trying to have a little _private time_-"

"_Anna,_" Elsa said, her blue eyes deepening with barely contained despair. The temperature in the room dropped several degrees, so much that Anna and Kristoff could see their breath. The candles in their sconces were snuffed out. The fire wavered. Ice licked the edges of the windows. "_Please..._"

And all thoughts of 'private time' vanished. Anna could see the desperation in her sister. She leapt out of bed and dashed to her. "I'm here, Elsa," she said, wrapping her arms around her. "I'm here. What's wrong?"

* * *

The next morning dawned dark and snowy. A storm was already depositing solid inches of powder. Anna's eyelids cracked open, and that's when she noticed she was _freezing_. Elsa lay in bed next to her, still clutching her body desperately. But all her love and closeness hadn't defused Elsa's magic, which had run rampant and frozen her room almost entirely. Kristoff was already awake; he had slept with some pillows and blankets on the floor, and was busy trying to chip out the chandelier with his pickaxe. He turned to her. "Morning."

"Morning," Anna said, yawning even as her teeth chattered.

"Would you mind telling Her Highness to wake up and thaw this? Otherwise I think your room is pretty much ruined."

"Oh, right, right!" Anna said. She shook her sister. "Elsa, Elsa wake up!"

"Mrmr?" Elsa burbled, beautiful eyes fluttering open. "Hmm, I... oh no!" Elsa shouted, sitting bolt upright. "Here, Kristoff, let me get that." She swept her arms around and the ice and snow was pulled from every nook and cranny. It coalesced into a single ethereal snowflake, which Elsa pressed into her hands and snuffed out. She looked dejectedly at Anna. "So much for a good night's sleep clearing it up."

"Well, did it?" Kristoff asked. "How do you feel? Can you still feel... that thing you were talking about?"

Elsa gripped her own biceps tightly. "I can. More than ever."

"Well, we'll figure something out!" Anna said, hopping out of bed. "Let's go have breakfast, we can talk more about it."

So the three of them took some time to change clothes, and nearly half an hour later, they were having fish and eggs and coffee in the dining room. Elsa cut half-heartedly at her food, scarcely hungry.

"So," Anna said slowly, having the presence of mind to swallow her bite before speaking, "can you go over what you're feeling, again? You explained it last night but it was really late and I was really tired and I was a little distracted and it... it..." Anna's brow furrowed. "It's just hard to understand."

"It's hard to describe," Elsa said. "It's like... the Winter is coming. No, the Winter is _here_. And it's calling to me. It's calling to me in my gut and in my heart and in my bones. It's tugging at me, begging me to come outside and to... to join it."

"Join?" Kristoff said. "But aren't you already sort of joined with winter?"

"Yes!" Elsa said. "And that's the whole reason I'm feeling what I feel right now, I think. There's some winter in me already, there always has been. It's just that all this time- or at least ever since I tried to suppress my magic- I've worked so hard on keeping that part of me under wraps, I guess I wasn't able to feel Winter's tug." She pushed some herring around her plate. "But I feel it now. It's singing to me, Kristoff. It's touching my cheek, the same way you touch Anna's. It's asking me to come outside and give myself to the cold and snow."

"And if you do?" Anna asked.

"I don't know," Elsa said. "But I think I'll be lost again." She started to scratch her palms with her fingernails. "And this time I'll run farther than just the North Mountain."

Anna swallowed a bite of egg hard. She took a long, careful pull of her coffee. When Elsa looked her way, she cold see the fear in her sister's eyes. But she could also see past the fear. She saw the slight tug at her lips that threatened to break into a smile. She saw the yearning, the _desire_ behind the fear in those endless blue eyes. The real thing that scared Elsa was the same thing that was quickly making Anna terrified. Deep down, a part of Elsa _wanted_ to surrender to the Winter. Something in her would be _happy_ to leave her humanity behind.

"Right," she said, thumping her mug against the table. "We need to keep you as far away from thoughts of winter as possible. We need a warm weather expert!"

"A... warm weather expert?" Elsa said, her eyebrow rising.

"Yep!" Anna said brightly. "And luckily, I've got one in mind."

* * *

"Hmmm..." Olaf rumbled, pacing back and forth in the throne room. His personal snowcloud had vanished, because Elsa was currently keeping the throne room cold enough for him not to need it. The sapient snowman had his stick hands clasped behind his back as he trudged back and forth. Elsa had to admit, he was almost impressive, with his careful pacing and his grim expression. He turned to Elsa. "So... you have to stop thinking about Winter."

"That's Anna's suggestion, yes," said Elsa.

"Doesn't it make sense, Olaf?" Anna asked. "If we get her mind on Summer until the solstice is over, there's no way she'll go outside and try to magically become one with the Winter, or however it is she put it."

"Ugh, it's no _use_!" Elsa growled, clutching her head in her hands. "I can feel it, I can feel it just under my skin like some terrible rash." Ice began to crawl up the walls.

"Stop!" Olaf said, hopping over to Elsa. He put his hands on her shoulders, and she looked into his bulging eyes. "Say it with me, Elsa. I will not think of winter."

"I will... not think of winter," Elsa said.

"I will not think of winter."

"I will not think of winter." Elsa shook her head. "But Olaf, the more I say it, the more I _do_ think of winter."

"So what we need is a distraction!" Olaf said brightly. "We need to fill you up with the summeriest summer thoughts this side of July!" He walked several steps backwards and took a deep breath. "OOHHHHH..."

"Is he gonna sing again?" Kristoff whispered to Anna.

"Yes!" Anna said with a clap of her hands. "Isn't it great?"

_Christmas is the perfect time, to think of sand and sun!_

_Cause Christmas is the time when everyone can have some fun!_

_And while it's great to play in snow and just enjoy the cold,_

_Let's face it, folks, after all these years, that stuff gets pretty old!_

_SOOOOOO..._

All of a sudden, Olaf hurried into the main drawing room. Elsa, Anna, and Kristoff followed, where they were met with a stunning sight. It had been turned into... a beach. There were piles of sand against the walls. A blue sky backdrop had been lowered against one wall. A large, shallow tub had been filled with water, and inflatable toys were floating inside it. Perhaps most important, all four of the room's fireplaces were blazing, whipping up quite a bit of heat.

_SOOOOOO..._

_Let's give three cheers for Summer! Let's cry out for some sun!_

_Let's not forget to tip our hats to beaches, sand and rum!_

_Let's break out all our swimming suits! Let's lounge the day away!_

_And let's kick back and relax as Aruba's palm trees sway!_

"What's 'Aruba'?" Anna asked.

"It's actually an island in the South Caribbean Sea," Elsa said. "It was discovered in 1499 by OOF!" her history lesson was cut short when Olaf slid up to her and dipped her, as part of his dance number that suddenly included a decent chunk of the staff, all wearing bathing suits.

_SOOOOOO..._

_Hip hip hooray for Summer! That magic time of year!_

_When love blooms in the warm old night,_

Olaf shoved Anna and Kristoff together. They were both suddenly wearing their bathing suits.

_And all skin gets a sear!_

_Let's get a tan, let's take some swimming lessons at the beach!_

_We've got all night! We've got all day! It's all within our reach!_

Elsa too was suddenly wearing a very cute but tasteful swimsuit. A glass of rum punch was in her hand, and she was lounging on an inner tube in the pool. "Hmm?" she glanced at her glass, utterly befuddled by how it had gotten there.

And she wasn't the only one. "How is he doing this, exactly?" Kristoff asked, swimsuit on and nose covered in sunscreen.

"I don't know!" Anna exclaimed, joining the enthusiastic chorus line. "But isn't it fun?"

Suddenly a spotlight shone down on Olaf, and he sang into the heavens.

_I must confess, I must admit, a snowman just like me,_

_Can feel a little out of place in summer, fun and free._

_I'm made for wintry times and climes, the warmth's a no go here._

He broke into a smile.

_Which is a shame, cause summer is my favorite time of year!_

_It's warm and wet and wild and it's always full of glee!_

_And we can have it any time, even December, see!_

_So let's give a shout for summer, it really won't be rude!_

_Three cheers for fun and sunshine! Hooray!_

Olaf was suddenly surfing on a wave in the middle of the pool.

_And surf's up, dude!_

He fell back into the water, splashing Elsa. "Oh!" he said. "Oh, I'm sorry, Your Majesty! I didn't mean-"

Elsa threw back her head and laughed at the top of her lungs. "Thank you, Olaf," she said. "I needed that." She sighed, for once in relaxation, not distress. _It's working,_ she thought. The scraping of the winter on her mind was not as intense. Olaf had actually been right, and no one was more surprised than Elsa.

A few hours later, Kristoff slurped up the last of his rum punch, the straw making a hollow sucking sound. He held up his glass and clinked the ice back and forth. "Somebody wanna top me off?"

"I'll get it," Elsa said, rising from where she had been lounging by the fireplace. "Olaf, where did you put the punch?"

"Oh, it's- oof!- in the throne room, on the dais!" Olaf said. He was busy playing beach volleyball with Anna.

Smiling at the joy permeating the room, Elsa walked back out into the throne room. She conjured an ice dress to preserve her modesty, though it made the Winter's whispers a little louder. It was lucky she did, too because- "Your Majesty?"

"Oh!" Elsa said abruptly. "Archbishop Hageback!" The kindly old man in his red robes was standing just below the dais. She smiled to see him. "I'm happy you're here."

"I hope I'm not disturbing anything," said the archbishop. "I recall you once told me I could see you whenever I wished."

"Yes," Elsa said. "Yes, of course."

"I just heard the most peculiar music..."

Elsa chuckled. "Nothing to fear, Your Excellency. Just another strange and wonderful day."

Hageback smiled serenely at Elsa. Unlike certain of his fellow high-ranking clergy, he had never found anything unholy about the queen or her magic. It was, to him, simply another of God's great mysteries, and Elsa was immensely grateful for that. "I was just wondering," he said, "if I can expect your presence at Midnight Mass this Christmas Eve. You are the queen now, after all."

"Absolutely," Elsa said. "I'll of course be there. Anna will be there too."

"Wonderful," said Hageback.

"Is there anything-"

**_Come out._**

Elsa doubled over as the itch, the urge, the _yearning_ returned more powerfully than it had ever been before. It was like it was just under her skin, yearning to break free. The snowstorm outside seemed to amplify as the longing came over her, the snow beating all the harder at the windows of the throne room. Elsa breathed out a burst of frost. _Shut it out,_ she thought. _Shut it out, shut it out, shut it out, shutitoutshutitoutshutitout-_

"My Queen!" Hageback said, coming to her side as she fought to stay standing. "My Queen, are you all right?"

"I'm fine!" she coughed out, trying to ignore the voices that were hammering at her skull. "I just..."

_**COME OUT.**_

"I have to get back in there," she said, her voice shaking. "I have to get back into the warmth. Good day, Your Excellency." She staggered away before Hageback could further object. She hurried back into the fire room, her dress dissipating as she did. "Gah!" she panted, slamming the door behind her.

Anna, Kristoff and Olaf all looked up at her as she entered. "Yo!" Olaf said, bopping the volleyball with his nose.

"That took a while," Kristoff said. "Hey, uh, did you remember the punch?"

"Oh!" Elsa said, clutching her sides tightly. "No, no, I'm sorry. I just... the Archbisop was out there..."

"Ah," Anna said. "Queenly duties?"

"He just... he wanted to know if we'd come to Midnight Mass this Christmas Eve," Elsa said. "I told him we'd be happy to come."

"Of course we would!" Anna said brightly. "Oh, it's so wonderful! Have you ever been, Kristoff? There's bells and caroling and incense and it's just great!"

"I guess not," Kristoff said. "Midnight's usually when I'm asleep."

"Well you're coming this year!" Anna said firmly. "I'll have to get you some nice clothes. Well, nicer than you have right now."

"Can we just not talk about Christmas for a little?" Elsa snapped, and immediately regretted it. "No, wait, I'm sorry, I just... I need to get back in the pool," she said, hurrying over to the big tub. But the moment her skin touched it, it froze solid. "Oh!"

"Elsa?" Anna asked, fear crossing her face. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm _fine_," Elsa lied over and over.

_**COME OUT.**_

"I just... I need some more punch," Elsa said. She waved her hand and the pool unfroze, though now it was cold.

"Sure," Kristoff said, walking out through the door of the fire room. "I'll be right back."

So Elsa spent the next few hours slowly sipping rum punch, trying to ignore the swirl and roar of Winter through her mind. But it persisted. It beat her and punched her and kicked her in the stomach, and she got smaller and smaller, curling up tighter and tighter until she was practically a ball wrapped up in the sand.

_**Come out. Come out. Come out come out come out COME OUT.**_

"I can't," she whispered, tears leaking from her eyes. "It's too much in me. I can't, I can't, I can't..."

"Elsa?" Anna asked, sitting down beside her sister. "Elsa, are you all right?" She was intensely distressed by Elsa's compacted state.

Elsa stared up into her sister's beautiful blue-green eyes. She saw so much love there. So much hope. So much concern for her well-being. It was enough to make Elsa throw herself in front of a blade, as Anna had once done for her. It was enough to make Elsa give her life away to keep her sister safe. It was enough to make her abdicate her throne, if that was what Anna wanted.

But for all that... it wasn't enough to keep the Winter away. It was too strong. It called to her too loudly. The itch in her bones was like a sting now, like the long drag of wasp pricks against her soul. The Winter was well and truly fused with her, and like the lost piece of a puzzle, she was called to unite with the greater whole.

_I can't..._

**DONG!**

"Hear that?" Kristoff asked. He tilted his head to the side to prick up his ears.

"What time is it?" Anna asked.

"Up there," Kristoff nodded toward the great grandfather clock. "It's eleven o' clock. One hour til the solstice ends."

**DONG! DONG! DONG!**

_I can't..._ Elsa thought, and she wasn't sure what she meant. She couldn't go outside? She couldn't leave her sister? She couldn't resist Winter's pull?

**DONG! DONG!**

"Hey Elsa, do you wanna cook some roast boar or something?" Anna asked. "I read somewhere that they love to roast pigs in the tropical islands. We could cap off the perfect Summer-In-Winter day that way!"

"I have to admit," Kristoff said, "this has worked out pretty well. I didn't think it would." He turned to Olaf. "Nice job, snow guy."

"Always happy to assist!" Olaf said with a crisp salute.

**DONG! DONG! DONG!**

Elsa was breathing out bursts of frost. Her seat in the sand was rapidly covering in ice. She could feel the snow pounding at the windows, could feel the wind howling outside. The glacier across the fjord was vibrating, she could feel it shaking, could feel every single thing to do with cold and ice and snow.

**DONG!**

_I can't... I can't... I can't... I can't..._

**DONG!**

_I won't_, she thought, as the final bell chimed. Though it was far away, she could hear it. She could hear it through the snow. She rose from her seat in the sand. "You know what?" she said. "I could use some more rum punch. I'll be right back." Softly she moved across the room and exited through the door.

"So do you guys wanna do this tomorrow?" Olaf said brightly.

"I don't know," Anna said. "This seems more like the sort of thing you do every so often. And besides, the Winter Solstice will be over tomorrow. Who knows if Elsa's going to need any more help?"

"I could certainly use the help," Kristoff admitted. "Remember, princess, I go up into the mountains where the snow never thaws. A little summer in winter is really nice."

"Oh is it?" Anna said. She glanced up and down Kristoff's body, clad only in swimming trunks. "I bet you just _love_ the warm weather, don't you, you hunk?"

"Hunk?" Kristoff repeated. He glanced down at his body, taking a moment to grab some excess skin. "I need to lose some weight, actually."

"You look perfect," Anna said, winding her arms behind his neck. "Don't change a thing."

"Okay," Kristoff said. He smiled that dazzling lopsided smile of his. "You don't need to change either. You're gorgeous."

"Don't I know it," Anna cooed. "Hey Elsa, agree with me on how gorgeous I am!" There was no response. Anna pulled away from Kristoff. "Elsa?"

No response still. Elsa was nowhere to be seen.

"Huh," Anna said.

"Does it take that long to refill a glass?" Kristoff asked.

"She wanted a refill?" Olaf said. "Of what?"

"Of your rum punch, Olaf," said Anna. "Doesn't that make sense?"

"Well... no," Olaf said. "The rum punch is over there." He pointed to a small table where the punch had been set up. "I moved it after the last time Kristoff needed a refill."

"Then where is..." Anna's voice died. Huge, sudden terror filled her heart. "Elsa..." Her eyes shot to the door. It had been five minutes- far too long- and it had not opened again. "Elsa!" Anna cried. She ran to the door and threw it open. Outside, the throne room was dark. Its walls were coated in ice... and its doors were open. "Elsa, no!" Anna dashed across the throne room.

"Anna!" Kristoff called, hurrying after her, trying to ignore how cold the throne room was and how little he was wearing.

"Elsa!" Anna cried, running through the throne room, down the great hall, turning left toward the staircase. It was easy to follow her sister's trail: ice coated the walls where she had been. Anna wasn't surprised when they lead out the front doors into the courtyard, where the snow was falling heavily. The gates were open. They were always open, but now they were frozen open, blasts of ice keeping them at bay. "Elsa!" Anna cried. "Elsa, please, don't listen to the Winter!"

As if in answer, she heard her sister singing, her beautiful, powerful voice echoing into the wind.

_The Winter calls me loudly, and_

_I cannot disobey._

_It's hunted me so long and far_

_That now I'm easy prey._

"No!" Anna cried, rushing out onto the bridge. She scarcely cared that she was wearing nothing but a bathing suit. She had to get to Elsa. She had to save Elsa from herself.

Elsa was standing in the middle of the bridge. A maelstrom of snow was swirling around her, like a vortex in the air. It swirled faster and faster, thicker and thicker, so that Elsa could barely be seen. But still her sister's singing bellowed into the night.

_Dear Anna, please forgive me!_

_This feels so very wrong!  
But I cannot fight it any more,_

_The call is just TOOOOOOOO STROOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG_

Anna got to her just in time... just in time to be too late. She ran to Elsa, ran to the swirling storm of snow. She was there just as Elsa, looking up into the heavens, _breathed_, breathed out a long, white stream of smoke or spirit. It left her body and blew away into the night. The snow suddenly crashed down on Elsa, and a burst of white light erupted through the darkness, so intense that Anna fell back onto her bottom. When she opened her eyes again, she looked up in front of her... and saw her sister.

Elsa had _changed_. She wore a dress much like her ice dresses, but where that was icy, translucent blue, this one was snowy white, purest white. The blue color was reserved for her _skin_. Her skin, her body, had changed to an icy blue, with a hint of glowing green when she shifted, like her skin was made of glacial ice. And her hair... it had always been light, but it had also always been visibly blond. Now it was white as snow. She looked otherwordly and inhuman. She looked like she had been sculpted and swirled together.

"Elsa!" Anna called, shoving herself to her feet. She reached out a hand. "Elsa, come back!"

Elsa looked at her, her eyes glinting pools of light within her blue ice skin. She smiled sadly at Anna. With a mournful voice that carried on the wind, she whispered, "Goodbye."

And she vanished, bursting into a puff of snow that was quickly carried away in the storm. "No!" Anna cried, falling to her knees. "No! No! Don't leave me again!"


	4. Rejoiced Much In Mind

More singing! At this rate I'll have a song in nearly every chapter.

* * *

Chapter 4

Elsa

Was

**EVERWHERE.**

She had never conceived of such a breadth and depth of existence. The cold winds and winter storms of the world- of the _Earth_- blew across the thousands and millions of miles, and every gust, every hail piece, every snowflake was an eye and ear. Yet somehow this brush with omniscience didn't drive her mad. Why? She didn't care. All she knew is that, wherever there was snow and ice, there she was. And what she saw! What she heard!

She was on the icy peaks of great Kilimanjaro in Africa, where below her lions and hyenas warred for space. She looked out from the Harz range in Corona, festooned with castles and forts of every shape. She swept over the sea, over the ancient towers of Atlantica, gold and sunken. She blew over deserts, she swirled over forests. She whipped across the polar caps. In the North, handfuls of lonely settlements sent up light against the endless darkness. In the South, beneath glaciers, weird and elder things tended great cities in the gloom.

Yet still Elsa kept her own mind. And she wondered... could she do more than see? _Maybe I can... shape it,_ she thought in her ubiquitousness. Maybe she could exert her will upon Winter.

So she drove herself into the heart of the North Pole, made herself the center of the top of the world. All cold, all snow, all ice seemed to emanate from this apex of the North, and Elsa perched her spirit upon its surface. She rose her being into the Arctic sky, and threw apart her influence like a billowing cloak. She willed the cold and snow and ice to follow her command.

And they did. Storms swirled into being. Blizzards twirled into the air across the entire northern hemisphere. It astounded Elsa how easy it all was. She shouldn't have been able to command the storms so effortlessly... should she? But then, she knew nothing about the workings of the seasons and their strange, elder gods. Maybe she was the only influence on the cold that there was. Maybe all the Winter had to listen to... was her.

But her trillion eyes and ears saw so many things. Parents hurried their children inside. Cattle lowed furiously as they struggled to avoid the snowflakes. Cries went up from cities and towns, coal plants were shut down. All things moved in united terror of her sudden, vicious storms.

_No!,_ thought Elsa. _I don't want to hurt anyone!_

So with much reluctance, she withdrew her might. She rolled back the storms and pulled away the flurries. She dumped them all where they were meant to be- on Arendelle, on Russia, on Sweden, on the furthest northern ice caps. She knew what she was capable of, at least in part. There was something in her soul- she would have said her heart, but she didn't really have one any more- that told her she could have done so much more. But she had at least a basic idea of her strength.

And now it was time to really see things. So she burst apart. She saw lovers consummating in the moonlight. She saw families huddled close against snowstorms. She saw animals scurrying through silent, wintry forests. She saw lonely vagabonds, soldiers on the march, weary laborers, royal dignitaries on a mission. She beheld all of this, and she saw it in a single glance. In one moment, everything happening in range of the cold and snow was hers to see. And still she stayed sane! It was almost baffling how she could comprehend everything. But she chose not to question it for now. She chose, rather, to be thrilled. It was time to explore.

Through all the day, Elsa watched and listened. She swirled through great cities, she froze into great canyons. She crept into the leaky windows of houses, she snuck into barns between gaps in the framing. Wherever there was cold and shivering, there was she. She heard a billion secrets, she saw a million heartbreaks, she watched a thousand kisses of true love. And it made her feel strangely, vaguely lonely, which surprised her. She wasn't even a person any more, not really. But she still felt like one.

As darkness fell over Arendelle, Elsa swirled back into being atop the North Mountain. She conjured a mirror, a sheet of ice, and examined herself. Same glacial-ice-blue skin. Same snow-white hair. This was her now, she was forced to admit. There was a tinge of sadness in reflecting on her lost humanity, but it was drowned in the rush of delight that came from the Winter around her and in her and above her and through her. She breathed and the snowflakes shuddered. She flicked her wrist and a blizzard came storming down the mountain. She had always commanded the cold and the snow, but now she _felt_ the snow when it moved. Every flake was an extension of herself.

And yet, still she didn't fully comprehend the change that had taken place. There was so much more, so much more to understand, to see, to learn. Elsa was eager to get started- too eager, in fact, to wait patiently while she discovered her capabilities on her own. _I wish there was someone with me,_ she thought. _Someone else, someone who understands better than I could._

And she heard something at the edge of the snow's expanse. Scraping, sliding, _schiff_ _schiff_ng down one of the slopes far below her. Elsa burst into flakes and swirled down the mountain, where she reformed at its base.

Someone was skiing down the mountain, a light shape that was barely visible against the whiteness of the snow, glowing in the darkness of the night. Elsa noted that the figure seemed unusually large, and her instincts were confirmed as the figure grew closer. It was a human-shaped thing, though its stature dwarfed the average man, and certainly the average woman, which was important because the figure coming close was female.

She was of huge size, but comely shape, her body sturdy yet feminine. Her skin was the same cold, icy blue as Elsa's, but it was firm and sturdy where Elsa was slim and light. Her hair was deep, dark blue, and billowed behind her as she slid down the slope. Her torso was wrapped in bushy white fur; as she drew closer, Elsa saw that she was actually wearing a polar bear skin, the dead beast's great head propped up on the woman's broad shoulder. She skied without poles, using her legs alone. She drew closer and closer until she banked hard to the right and slid to a stop barely a dozen feet from Elsa. This close, Elsa could see her face. It was beautiful, but severe, and more than a little cruel.

Her skis were made of ice, and as she lifted her feet they vanished in swirls of water. Her feet- her bare feet- tramped across the snow toward Elsa, who shrank back a little at her approach. She was truly enormous, towering over Elsa and making almost two of her in width. She stopped just before Elsa, peering down her elegant nose at the smaller ice elemental.

Elsa raised a hand. "Are you... who are you?"

"I am the one you summoned," said the giantess. "You wished for a guide? Here I am. You plucked me from the depths of Winter." Her voice was thick and firm. She smiled, though it did not reach her eyes. "I thank you for that, by the way. Too long have I been trapped in Winter, stuck in the space between the flakes. It is good to stretch myself again, to move and feel and think as I did of old when Odin ruled in Asgard."

Odin? Asgard? Elsa's eyes went wide. Those were names from the ancient days of Arendelle, when the unchurched worshiped gods of things and times and places, wild gods who were cruel and barbaric. "Are you of the Aesir?" Elsa asked. She had read plenty of treatises on the old faiths.

"Ha!" the giantess laughed, a deep rumble. "Ha ha ha! No, little iceling, the Aesir would never have me, though all their men craved my beauty. I am a jötunn, one of those who came before. I am the Lady of Winter, the Queen of the Mountains, the Master of the Hunt. You might call me Skadi."

"I know your name," Elsa said. "I've read it before in the records that survive. You were married to..." she tilted her head, trying to recall her research on the eddas, "... Freyr, yes?"

"The less said about my husband, the better," Skadi rumbled. She crossed her powerful arms over her chest. "He is not relevant now. What is relevant is you, My Queen."

"Queen?" Elsa repeated. "I'm not your queen. You're a goddess, aren't you? I should take orders from you."

"You would think that," said Skadi, turning and walking toward the bank of snowy trees nearby. Elsa followed, having to jog to keep up with Skadi's long strides. "But the times are not what they once were. Mortal men do not listen to the old gods any longer. No, all I can do is instruct you, little iceling, as I have before to those who called me."

Elsa stopped in her tracks. "Before?" she repeated. "This has happened... before?"

"Do you think you are the only one born to command the weather? The elements? The seasons?" Skadi asked. "And of those, do you think you are the only one to surrender to the season's call? I tell you, you are not the first, and you will not be the last." Skadi smiled bitterly. "Or perhaps you will be the last? There are so few of your kind any more."

"I admit, I've never heard of anyone else like me," said Elsa.

"But I must tell you," Skadi said, turning around to look more completely at Elsa, "you are more... intact, at this point, than those I have previously mentored. You have more of your shape, and far more of your mind. I felt you in the snow and ice today, noted the way you stretched around the world." Her eyebrows rose. "For you to have exerted yourself as you did and to still possess so much of your own sanity is impressive. You must have great control."

"I... I suppose," Elsa said. "I've spent nearly my entire life suppressing my magic. It's only been in the last year that I've truly unleashed it."

Skadi's expression changed suddenly. A hungry look crossed her face that had not before been present. "Have you now?" she asked. "So... you have spent much of your life keeping your power restrained?"

"Yes," Elsa said.

"Interesting," Skadi glanced shiftily to the side. "So different than those I have met before. And perhaps a blessing in disguise." She put fingers to her chin and dipped that in thought. Elsa wandered around her, hoping desperately that she hadn't angered Skadi. Regardless of her claims of powerlessness, she was still a goddess, and it wouldn't be wise to upset her. But when Skadi looked on her again, it was with an expression of delight. "I should like to test you, Elsa of Arendelle. I should like to see how much you are capable of."

Elsa felt a thrill go up her icy spine- or where her spine would be if she still had one. "I'm ready."

"Your first test is to follow me," said Skadi. "Keep up!" she burst into snowflakes and was swept away by the wind.

Elsa blew herself apart and swirled around, trying to find Skadi. She once again peered through millions of flakes, using them all as eyes, until she detected the swirl of the goddess. Occasionally the snowflakes would come together just so to make a perfect likeness of her, and this was what Elsa followed, her own body occasionally coming together in ideal swirls of snow. Elsa chased Skadi up and up, past Arendelle, into the wilderness, up distant mountains, further and further until the ground became covered in ice and ice fog lay across the barren expanses. Whales breached in the cold waters below. Ice flows floated in the sea.

At last, Skadi stepped back into solid form on the polar ice. Elsa followed shortly after, her bare blue feet padding on the ice. Of course she felt no cold. She didn't feel much of anything, really; it was like a veil of numbness had passed over her body, and she only really experienced touch when snowflakes around her came into contact with ice, the ground, or each other.

"The North Pole," Skadi said. "The apex of Winter, where ice and snow live eternally. Its heart is old, its power is strong. Let me see if you can wield it." She swept her hand across the ice caps, and they began to shift and rise. Huge legs grew up out of the ice, uniting into thick torsos and splitting out again into long arms. Spiked heads emerged, and three great colossi began to lumber toward Elsa.

She raised her eyebrow and turned toward Skadi. "What are those for?"

"They carry the spirit of the polar ice within them," Skadi said. "Take command of them now, if you can."

"What?" Elsa asked. "That's your test?"

"Try if you can," said Skadi, "but doubtless you will find the task- oh!"

Elsa had already stretched out her icy blue hand. The golems' walking began to slow, then came entirely to a halt. A shudder went through them, and they stood a little straighter, stood a little firmer. Elsa twisted her hand, and the colossi began to sway back and forth. In a few moments her silent commands to them were clear: they were _dancing_.

"How did you do that?" Skadi asked. "I put so much willpower into them!"

"Was it supposed to be difficult?" Elsa asked, unable to keep a little arrogance out of her voice. "I didn't have to try."

Skadi's face lit up in an entirely unsettling way. "Command the ice more," she said, "the polar ice. It's one thing to create it- it's another to destroy it. Melt the ice with your mind."

"Is this another test?"

"Just do it!" Skadi said, all traces of her stateliness gone.

"Ugh, fine," Elsa said. She flicked her wrist and the polar ice evaporated, melting into water whose sudden change in temperature caused the frigid sea to steam.

Skadi gazed over her shoulder, bewilderment on her stern features. "You're still not trying, are you?"

"A little," Elsa admitted.

"Try," Skadi said. "Freeze more of the sea, and really _try_. Exert yourself!"

"All right, all right," Elsa said, thrills racing through her icy body. She stretched out her hands over the sea. She lowered her eyebrows in intense focus. And she let her power _go_.

With huge, roaring _cracks_, the sea began to freeze. The ice grew thick, and it grew long, stretching far in front of her. Spikes of ice began to sprout from the sea, swirling twists and warps of frozen shapes. Still Elsa exerted herself, and the ice grew thicker, the ice spread further. It spread and spread and **spread** until it stretched into the horizon, hundreds of miles of salt water going solid and still.

"Magnificent," Skadi said, hunger on her face. "Absolutely magnificent!"

"I assume I pass the test, then?" Elsa asked.

"I never thought there would be one like you!" Skadi crowed, pulling away from Elsa, pacing back and forth across the ice. "You're so unlike the rest! They're always so _weak_, so uncontrolled, and by this point in their first or second day they're gibbering fools ready to blast themselves into oblivion-"

"What exactly do you mean?" Elsa said.

"Elsa," said Skadi, "my dear, dear iceling. I told you you were not the first... but perhaps I was wrong. Maybe you are the first and only one of your kind. So many of those gifted with the magic of winter have been unable to maintain their own strength against its influence. They don't control the ice and snow- it controls them, and eventually it gobbles them up until they cease to exist." She smiled wickedly. "But you're not like them, My Queen. You're different. You're better. I don't know why, exactly- maybe it was all your years of suppression- but the Winter bends to you in ways I've never seen it do before."

"And that's... good?" Elsa asked.

"It's perfect!" Skadi crowed. "You can be what I have craved for so long, what Winter has so long needed. This Winter- _your_ Winter- can be one like no other."

"I don't understand," Elsa said.

"Come with me," said Skadi. She billowed up into the sky. Elsa rapidly followed.

They at last came to a stop high in the air. They weren't solid bodies at this height; they were clusters of snow, flickering in the wind like glinting black-and-white photos. It was nighttime still, and when Elsa looked down she saw the huge land, the continent of Europe, dark save for some blocks of light in cities and towns. But she could also see everything within range of snowflakes, so her vision of hamlets and communes and cities and villages was more than mortal.

"Elsa," said Skadi, "what do you see, when you look down?"

Elsa peered through all her snowy eyes, listened through all her snowy ears. "I see all the kingdoms of Europe."

"So you do," said Skadi, sweeping her hand across the sky. "And they can all be yours. They deserve all to be yours."

"They do?" Elsa asked.

"My Queen," said Skadi, "do you know what I see?" She scowled down. "I see arrogance. I see insolence. I see foolishness." And Skadi began to sing.

_Don't you feel it?_

_ Don't you see it?_

_ Don't you know it in your bones?_

_ Well, not bones- you don't need_

_ Those any more._

_ Can't you tell it?_

_ Don't you know it?_

_ Do I have to flatly show it?_

_ You're so much more than_

_ Just an ice witch now._

"Elsa," Skadi said, "humans used to fear the Winter. Used to cower from it, used to crawl into their caves and huts and shudder at it. You _are_ Winter now, so you remember... don't you?"

Elsa remembered. Elsa remembered primitive man fleeing the snowstorms. Remembered them huddled pathetically around their fires. Remembered the deaths of those foolish enough to be caught outside amongst the ice. It was so strange and sudden, but she felt a yearning for those days. How quickly her temperament had changed.

"But now they don't," said Skadi. "They think they've _beaten_ you, Elsa. They think with their brick and mortar, with their furnaces and factories, they have driven you away. They think they have mastered you, Elsa, and that you are no longer of concern."

Something came over Elsa at this. Something sharp and cold filled her spirit. When she really thought about it, Skadi was right. Christmastime was proof enough- humans considered Winter a time of celebration, a time of merriment. They no longer respected it. No longer respected _her_. But what about Anna? No, didn't Anna laugh at Winter like the rest?

And wasn't she tired of never being respected? Nobody had ever listened to her, and always tried to order her about, tell her what to do. Even when she was queen, she had never been free until her magic had been unleashed. Now she was freer than ever, and there was still so much insolence. Her sympathies, her consideration of circumstances, all the tiny subtle things that _humans_ did were blowing away from her as the Winter in her- the Winter she was- manifested its infinite coldness. Elsa sang softly.

_I can see it, I can feel it,_

_ Every person wears a smile,_

_ They crack and jape when_

_ My storms tumble down._

_ Shall I stand it?_

_ Shall I bear it?_

_ Shall let them get away?_

_ Or shall I remind them just who wears the crown?_

"Yes! Yes!" Skadi cackled. "They've forgotten about Winter, Elsa. They've forgotten about _you_."

Elsa's lip curled in a sneer, filled with an icy disgust that would have appalled her just twenty-four hours ago. She stretched out one swirling snowflake arm. "Perhaps it's time I reminded them."

Skadi could not suppress her grin.


	5. In Tempest, Storm & Wind

I kept trying my hardest to fit the julbukk tradition into this story, but it just wouldn't take. Here's the next best thing, I hope.

* * *

Chapter 5

Anna woke up, and the first thing she noticed was that she no longer felt cold and sore. She felt... well, a distinct change from the entire day yesterday. So she immediately hurled herself out of bed, going to the window and throwing open the curtains.

Her eyes beheld a wall of howling white. Swirling gusts of snow-filled wind were whipping at the walls of the palace, obscuring her vision even of the courtyard below. She put her hand on the window and was shocked by how cold it felt. She shivered. _Elsa..._

There was a knocking at her door. "Anna?" Kristoff's voice came through. "Are you up?"

"Yes!" Anna said, turning her head but not moving away from the window.

Kristoff came through the door. When he saw her, he moved to her side and put the back of his hand on her forehead. "No fever," he said.

"Nope!" Anna said. "I'm all better. Now let's get out there and find Elsa!"

"Anna," Kristoff said, "we have no idea where she is."

"I know where she is," said Anna. "She's in her ice palace. That's where she'd have to be."

Kristoff looked judgmentally at his girlfriend. "Anna," he said, "didn't you say you saw her burst into snow and get blown away? What if she doesn't even have a physical body any more?"

Fear gnawed at Anna's intestines when she considered this. It was true; Elsa had no reason to even keep a corporeal shape. But Anna knew her sister, knew her better after the past few months with her and after the experiences they had shared together. For all that Elsa had opened up and freed her emotions, she still preferred to have a center, a ground- some place she could call home. She wouldn't totally abandon her body, and she'd want a place to put that body. And her old ice palace was the logical spot.

"No, Kristoff," she said firmly, "Elsa will still keep a shape. I know she will. And I know the palace is where she'll be. We have to get to the North Mountain."

"Not in this weather," Kristoff said, glancing out at the driving storm. "We have to wait until it dies down a little."

"No!" Anna said. "I want to go find Elsa now!"

"We couldn't even see out there," Kristoff said. "We'd get lost and we'd die in the storm. And what good would we be to Elsa then?"

Anna took a deep breath and bit her lip. She wanted to argue, wanted to rush out the palace gates right now and start trekking into the mountains. But she wouldn't go without Kristoff, and Kristoff seemed dead set against going in these conditions. She slowly, softly exhaled, walking back to sit down on her bed. "I'm so worried, Kristoff," she whispered. "What if she really is gone for good?"

Kristoff moved to sit on the bed next to her. "She wouldn't," he said, resting a hand on her shoulder. "I don't know Elsa as well as you, but I know she loves you. She wouldn't leave you."

"You think so?" Anna asked. "You promise?"

Kristoff leaned in and kissed her on the nose. "I promise," he said.

The snowstorm lessened in intensity around mid-afternoon, so the two of them pulled on their warmest winter clothes. Indeed, Kristoff had Anna wear a set of long underwear, then he gave her a set of his own long underwear to put over hers, _then_ he let her put on her warm woolen dress and sweater and cloak. He himself wore two pair of long underwear, along with his heavy, warm trousers and tunic, with a sweater over that.

Even for all their protection, they were shocked to leave the palace. It was violently cold, almost unbearably cold. The snow was swirling down in thick sheets. And this made Kristoff look curiously up at the sky. "Why is it snowing?"

"Uh, because it's cold, duh?" Anna said, loading her pack into his sleigh.

"No, that's wrong," Kristoff said. "I think it's too cold to be snowing. Snow can't form once the temperature hits a certain depth. And we're definitely past that. So why is it snowing?"

Anna looked up into the sky. "Elsa," she breathed. "This must be her doing." Anna glanced out the open gates with determination. "We've got to find her and make her stop this."

"Assuming she wants to stop it," Kristoff muttered under his breath.

"What?" Anna asked.

"Nothing," he said. He and Anna climbed into his sleigh, and Kristoff flicked the reigns. "Let's get going, Sven."

The reindeer didn't move, merely standing there and shivering. Kristoff sighed. "Sven, buddy, what's wrong?"

'Golly, Kristoff, it's so cold! I can barely move!' said 'Sven.'

"I know that, buddy, but you've got to. It'll only warm up if we can find Queen Elsa. Please?"

'That's all easy for you to say! You've got warm clothes and everything! All I've got is this natty old fur!' Sven grumbled.

"Ah, Sven," Anna said, interjecting before Kristoff could talk to himself again, "what if I got you one of the blankets we put on our horses?"

'That would be great, Princess Anna! You're the best friend a reindeer could have! No wonder Kristoff thinks you're so wonderful!'

"Aw, you're sweet," Anna said, throwing a wink at Kristoff as she climbed out of the sleigh.

With Sven bundled up also, they set out, riding out of the castle and out of the city. They began to climb almost immediately, the hills a gradual but noticeable slope up into the wilderness.

"Elsa!" Anna called. "Elsa, where are you?"

"I thought you said she was up in her ice palace," Kristoff asked as they moved into the forest not far from the city.

"Well, I think she is," said Anna. "But maybe, if she's part of Winter now, she can hear through the snow too?"

"You make her sound like she's some sort of god," Kristoff said.

"Hmm," Anna said, leaning back in her seat. "Sometimes I wonder if she isn't. Sometimes I wonder if she's not secretly part-angel or part-goddess or something. It wouldn't be surprising, would it?" Anna crossed her arms over her chest. "But she still needs me. We have to find her."

They rode in silence for a few hours, Anna occasionally standing up in the sled to call out Elsa's name. Kristoff kept hold of Sven's reigns and looked ahead, trying to ignore the feeling in his chest that this wouldn't be nearly as simple as Anna made it out to be. He loved her so much, but she had her failings, chief among them her inability to fully consider a situation. From what she had described, Elsa had turned her back on being human- complete with breathing "some white breath stuff" out through her mouth, which Kristoff almost assumed had been her soul. That didn't sound like a thing that was easy to reverse. But he would try, for Anna's sake and for Elsa's. He knew how deeply the sisters cared for each other, and however much Elsa was or wasn't enjoying being a Winter spirit, there was a part of her that would miss Anna.

They stopped later in the afternoon in the shade of some great trees, where Anna unwrapped a cold sandwich and began frantically chewing. In truth, she was still a little worn out from spending all of yesterday with a fever, and the food was welcome energy. Kristoff was wandering around the sled, making sure Sven wasn't too cold. Suddenly- "Do you hear that?" he asked.

Anna stopped her chewing and pricked up her ears. She did hear something! It was a shuffling just through some of the trees and a voice muttering to itself, a very high and small sounding voice. Swallowing the final bite of her sandwich, Anna leapt out of the sled and began to creep toward the sound.

"Anna..." Kristoff whispered, reluctantly following her.

"Don't you want to see what it is?" Anna whispered back. "Maybe it will lead us to Elsa." She crept forward, quietly, softly, gently. She was the picture of silent grace, slinking forward without making a sound until she reached some bushes...

"Okay?" Kristoff mouthed. "Now wh-"

"AHA!" Anna bellowed, bursting through the bushes and pointing an accusing finger at the source of the noise.

"Aiee!" a small voice cried, and a figure fell back into the snow. It was quickly on its feet again, brushing itself off. "What was that for? I nearly died of fright."

Kristoff moved out of the bushes to stand beside Anna. Both of them beheld a little man- a _very_ little man. He couldn't have been taller than three feet. He was wearing a brown burlap tunic, dark wool pants, and heavy little boots. A long stocking cap of off-white wool drooped off his head, and it was nearly the same color as the long, bushy beard that hung practically to the ground.

Anna and Kristoff could do nothing much but gape. The little man glared up at them, his hands on his hips. "What are you two doing out in this storm? You should be indoors, you know. Especially you, Princess Anna."

"You know my name?" Anna asked.

"Of course! I've been slipping gifts under your Christmas tree since you were born, I ought quite well to know your name."

"You-"

"Oh," Kristoff said. "Oh!" A huge smile spread across his face. "Grand Pabbie always used to mention you guys! You're a Nisse!"

"A Nisse?" Anna repeated, delight crossing her features. "Ooo! Do you have presents?"

"Not just _a_ Nisse, please and thank you," said the strange little man. "_The_ Nisse, or at least the Nisse of Arendelle."

"I can't believe it," Kristoff said. "My mom and my brothers and sisters used to talk about you all the time, about you and all the amazing things you would do for the people of Arendelle."

"Yes, well, it's a lonely job, but someone's got to do it," said the Nisse. "It didn't used to be so lonely, you know. Used to be, every farm and townhouse had its own Nisse, always ready to slurp up porridge and go to work tending to things. But times have changed. The world's grown older and colder, and the only one left is me." He trembled. "So much work left undone! So many chores unfulfilled! And you can't very well trust humans to do it right, can you?"

"Uh, I don't know?" Anna asked, confused. "Servants do most of the things in the palace."

The Nisse just shook his head and clucked his tongue. "You're all so lucky to have me," he said. "I've managed to get all the gifts for Arendelle ready more than a day ahead of time. All presents ready to go!"

"Ooo, are they in there?" Anna asked brightly, kneeling down and shoving the Nisse aside. She stuffed her head into the hole he had been peering through.

"Hey!" the Nisse snapped. "Don't touch those!"

"Wow!" Anna's voice came out, muffled slightly by being underground. She pulled her head out. "Kristoff, you've gotta check this out!"

"Really?" Kristoff said, kneeling down and getting on his hands. He stuck his head through the hole and saw a vast cavern filled with parcels wrapped in brown paper. He gaped. "Where did this cave come from?"

"I dug it," the Nisse said angrily, "now get your fat head out of there!" He kicked Kristoff hard in the bottom.

"Ouch!" Kristoff said, pulling out and glaring at the Nisse. "I just wanted to admire your work! The craftsmanship is exquisite."

"Is it now?" said the Nisse. "You work with rock?"

"Ice, actually," said Kristoff. "But I've dabbled in stone. You'd be surprised how similar they are."

"I can see that," said the Nisse. "I guess you must use a hammer and chisel."

"I do," said Kristoff. He leaned closer to the Nisse. "Do you find there's a particular angle that makes the stone really easy to work with?"

"Oh, absolutely," said the Nisse. "The trick is to come at it-"

"We don't have time for this!" Anna shouted, stomping her foot in the snow. "We need to find Elsa!"

"Elsa? Queen Elsa?" the Nisse said. "Where is she? Has something happened?"

"Well..." Kristoff said, working up the nerve to try and explain things.

Fortunately, he didn't have to. "Elsa went out into the storm and turned into some sort of Winter person!" Anna exclaimed. "She turned into ice and snow and... and she blew away..." Anna's eyes began to prick with tears.

"What?" the Nisse said. "Queen Elsa's gone and united with Winter?" He tilted his head to the side. "Well, I suppose that explains what I've been feeling. Oh dear, oh dear, this is most troubling."

"Feeling?" Anna asked.

"Yes," said the Nisse. "I can feel your sister everywhere around us. At first I thought that this must be one of her snowstorms, but I realize now that _all_ snowstorms are her snowstorms these days. I can feel a tiny taste of her in every gust and snowflake."

"You can?" Anna asked. "Can you... can you tell where she's more heavily present?"

"I... maybe," said the Nisse. "That's not consequential." He turned away.

Anna took a deep breath and began to sing.

_Hey Mister, Hey Mister,  
Have you seen my sister?  
Hey Mister, Hey Mister,  
Where could she have gone?_

_Hey Mister, Hey Mister,_  
_Do you know my sister?_  
_She cares far too deeply_  
_To leave me all alone._

"That's what you think," said the Nisse.

"That's what I know," said Anna firmly. "Elsa would never have abandoned me if she were in her right mind. The Winter was just too strong for her. She even said so!"

"Regardless, girl, your singing doesn't move me," said the Nisse grumpily. "I did all this work getting these presents together. Now I am going to spend the day relaxing, and the night sleeping contentedly." The wind suddenly howled, and the Nisse rubbed his torso. "Assuming I can even get warm."

Kristoff snapped his fingers. Well, he tried to; it was difficult through his thick gloves. "Hey," he said, "you want a warm place to stay the night?"

"Well I'd love it," said the Nisse. "Do you have one in mind?"

"We're going to be searching the mountains for Elsa," said Kristoff. "You said you could feel her, right? Maybe you could feel her better when you're closer to her?"

"I suppose I could," said the Nisse, "provided she were around. But where are you going with this?"

"I just so happen to know a place with nice, warm rooms," said Kristoff. "It's even got a sauna. We're probably going to bunk there for the night, looking for Elsa. You'd be welcome to stay with us... if you'll help us out."

"Huh? Oh, yeah!" Anna chimed brightly. "Yes, help us out and we'll keep you as warm as we can!"

"No," said the Nisse, "I don't have the time or the desire. I do care about Queen Elsa, but I need my rest! I need my sleep before I must do so much work on Christmas Eve!"

Anna knelt down so that she was nearly at eye level with the Nisse. She sang softly, sweetly, gently.

_I insist Sir, insist Sir,  
Help me find my sister.  
Insist sir, insist sir,  
You give me a hand._

_So please Sir, Oh Please Sir,_  
_Help me find my sister._  
_Let me bring her home now,_  
_However far she's ran._

The Nisse twisted and shifted his eyes every which way, but he kept bringing them back to Anna's beautiful blue-green gaze. She smiled at him with all the love and hope she could muster.

And at last, the Nisse heaved a sigh. "Very well," he said, "I'll help you look."

"Thank you!" Anna said, wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug.

"But you'd better not be kidding about that warm bed!" the Nisse said.

"Swear on my honor," Kristoff said. "Do you know where Elsa is right now?"

Pushing away from Anna, the Nisse closed his eyes and stood up on his toes. He began to spin around, twirling like a ballet dancer, until he abruptly stopped. His arm shot out, pointing north and slightly up. "That way."

"Then let's go!" Anna said, hurrying back through the bushes to the sleigh. Kristoff hung to the rear, allowing the Nisse to go before him and parting the bushes so he could pass more easily. Anna lifted him up into the sleigh.

Sven looked over his shoulder and growled at the Nisse. "Hush, please," the Nisse said, pointing a finger at Sven. "I've no need to be bitten by some mangy reindeer."

Sven's ears lowered, and he assumed an oddly calm demeanor. Kristoff arched an eyebrow. "That was easy. Thanks." He flicked the reigns. "North, buddy!"

"I have to warn you," said the Nisse, settling back in his seat, "it may not be so easy to find your sister as just going to where I sense her. And even if we do find her, it may not be as easy as you think to get her back the way you knew her."

"Maybe not easy," Anna said brightly, "but I know it can be done. Elsa was just really stressed out by the Winter's tug. I'm sure she's calmed down by now."

"Oh, my princess," the Nisse said softly, shaking his head. "I cherish your optimism."

"So you think it's going to be hard?" Kristoff said.

"Nearly impossible, in fact," said the Nisse. "You two don't quite understand what's happened to Queen Elsa, if you've told me everything accurately. You make it sound like she's used her ice magic to unite with the Winter, to become one with it in all its cold and snow."

"Yes," said Anna. "That's exactly what happened. And we're going to get her back!"

"She is not the first to have power over the seasons and elements," said the Nisse, "not first by a long shot. And she is not the first to be called by the seasons and the weather, when they grow fierce and strong. She is not the first to accept their call and join with them." He clasped his hands together tightly. "But if you succeed in bringing her back, she would be one of a _handful_ to reclaim her humanity."

"She will be," Anna said. "I know she will."

"I don't think you appreciate the magnitude of what your sister has done," said the Nisse. "The seasons are powerful old things, with loud, booming voices and strong hands. Those who fall under their sway find themselves greatly changed. Their spirits are altered, their natures shift. They become less like themselves and more like the seasons they unite with. Your sister may not be the person you know when we find her."

Anna bit her lip. She heard everything the Nisse said, and it filled her with fear. But she knew she could get Elsa to renounce Winter's grip. She knew she could bring her sister back to herself.

She had to.


	6. Each Other Now Embrace

Let's see how long it takes you all to figure out why this chapter has the title it has.

* * *

Chapter 6

The storms picked up again as they all got further up the mountain. By sunset, it was swirling, howling white once more. Kristoff and the Nisse both suggested they stop once they reached Wandering Oaken's, and Anna, somewhat reluctantly, agreed. The trading post master had built an inn onto his store and sauna to handle the increased flow of visitors, and this had enough vacant rooms to accommodate them all for the night. Anna laid in her bed, Kristoff snuggled against her, and sighed. She looked up at the darkened ceiling.

"Hey," Kristoff murmured. "Maybe you should go to sleep? We've got to get up early tomorrow."

"I know," Anna said softly. "But I can't."

Kristoff said nothing for a few moments, and Anna wondered if he had nodded off. So it surprised her when his voice drifted into the darkness. "Are you afraid?"

Anna did not answer right away. She took some time to consider her own soul. But finally she admitted, "Yes. I keep telling myself that we'll be able to get Elsa back. But after everything you and the Nisse have said... I'm not so sure."

"We'll at least try," Kristoff said. "I promise, we'll try."

"It's just... I remember the look she gave me, Kristoff. Just before she told me goodbye, before she blew away. It was so content. She seemed so serene. I didn't expect that at all."

"Remember what the Nisse said," Kristoff told her, even though he knew it probably didn't make her feel better. "The Winter is strong. It probably already had its grip on Elsa. But..." he rolled over and looked up at the ceiling with her. "But I think she must still be in there somewhere. Elsa's got incredible willpower. If anyone can come back from what she's been through, it's her."

"That's what I think," Anna said, rolling to her side. "It's what I hope," she said extremely quietly.

"What?" Kristoff asked.

"Nothing," Anna said. She yawned. "See you in the morning, Kristoff."

"You too," Kristoff said. He reached under the covers and gave her hand a squeeze. "It'll be all right." He wasn't sure of that, but he felt it was important to say.

* * *

"Wake up!" The thumping of repeated pressure on the covers was enough to jar both Kristoff and Anna into waking. "Wake up, wake up, wake up!"

"Brbl?" Anna gurgled, a trickle of drool coming from the corner of her mouth. "What time is it?"

"It's two hours past sunrise, you lazy humans!" the Nisse shouted, stomping up and down on the bed. "It's Christmas Eve, you slackers! I have an eternity of work to do tonight! If we're to go after your sister, we must leave at once!"

Anna sat bolt upright in her bed. "Christmas Eve..." she whispered. It was Christmas Eve. Tears sprang to her eyes. She had spent most of December looking forward to her first Christmas with her sister in more than a decade. "Elsa..." she whispered.

"Anna?" Kristoff said, sitting up beside her.

"We have to go," said Anna, vaulting out of bed, slipping her boots on. "Where are they, Master Nisse?"

The Nisse stood up on his toes and began to spin, the blanket shifting under him. He finally pointed up and to the far left. "That way," he said. But then he took several steps back, and began to clutch at his chest.

"Whoa!" Kristoff said, grabbing at the Nisse to keep him from falling off the bed. "What's wrong, guy?"

"I..." the Nisse still clutched at his chest. "I feel in my heart... I feel her. I feel the Queen. I feel..."

"What?" Anna asked, boring into him with her eyes. "What do you feel?"

The Nisse leveled his beady eyes on her. "I feel... cold."

* * *

"Aww," Elsa cooed, voice dripping with icy sarcasm, "England's still trying to run their factories." She smiled haughtily. "How quaint."

She reached up onto the globe that was floating in the air. It was made of ice, and was shaded various levels of white based on how heavily the snow and ice were falling on various parts of the world. She reached up into the North Sea and dragged her fingers down across the British Isles, bringing two thick columns of cold wrath down upon them.

"Corona is blanketed," Skadi said, glancing at one of the icy mirrors. There were dozens of them floating in the air around the throne room of Elsa's old ice palace, and each of them reflected a scene in a different part of the globe. Though different, at the moment all the mirrors showed similar scenes: carpets of white, the air filled with driving snow.

"I know," said Elsa, her icy mouth twitching in a smile. "And here's... _Westleton_," her voice took on a vicious snarl, and she spread her fingers apart in the air. Westleton was immediately hit by sleet so vicious and thick it was like spears of ice slashing down from the sky. "And the Southern _Isles_," she snarled, flicking her finger. Glaciers began to sprout in the lakes and fjords of the Southern Isles, began to grow at speeds that put their named pace to shame. Elsa's spirit soared as her winter- as _she_- expanded. Soon all the Northern Hemisphere would be submerged in infinite cold and white. Then perhaps she could even make the Southern Hemisphere bow to her whims. She could-

_Why?_

"Hmm?" Elsa twitched her icy head. "Did you say something?"

"No, My Queen," said Skadi, continuing to pace the icy floor.

Odd. Elsa had sworn there had been someone talking. But she soon allowed herself to see and hear from her trillion snowflakes once more, taking delight in the wintry wrath she was visiting on-

_What have these people ever done to you?_

A flicker of red light, like the sun refracted through a single snowflake, pulsed through Elsa's icy body. She twitched, and all around the upper half of the world, the snowstorms briefly faltered.

_This doesn't build respect,_ something in her said. _And fear only leads to hate. Isn't that what mother always said? Winter should be beautiful, not terrible._

"I..." Elsa whispered. She flickered red again.

None of this escaped Skadi's attention. "My Queen," she said, "the snow is dwindling."

Elsa's expression grew hard again, hard and cold. "We can't have that," she said, and she bent her will upon the world once more. The snow and ice and cold redoubled, pressing further onto the hapless lands and peoples. The memory of the voice lingered, but the echo of human concern- of sympathy- was blotted out by her overwhelming urge to dominate. The Winter's voice was too strong in her, a constant refrain in her head. Rule. Triumph. Break their will. And if she truly wanted to do that... "I wonder," said Elsa.

"Yes?" Skadi said, a smile coming to her face.

"I can bow all these peoples, all these nations," said Elsa. "But how do I break them?"

_Don't do it!_

"Suppose I just froze the entire sea?" Elsa thought aloud. "Or better yet, the whole ocean?"

Skadi's eyes bulged. "You can do that?"

"Yes," said Elsa. "But I'll need to focus. I'll need my whole attention on it. Can I trust you to look after me while I concentrate?"

"Of course, My Queen!" Skadi said, a note of glee in her voice. "I'll see that you're not disturbed."

"Very good," said Elsa. "Watch the mirrors. Let me know if anyone comes this way." And she began to focus.

* * *

The Nisse spun on his toes around and around and around until he stopped sharply and pointed up, yet again. "That way!"

"Right up the North Mountain!" Kristoff shouted, and flicked Sven's reigns to the right. "Let's go, buddy!"

"I knew it!" Anna cried. They all had to shout to be heard above the roaring snowstorm. "I knew she would be in her palace! We have to get to her!"

They went as fast as they dared. The snow made it hard to see more than a few feet in front of them, and Kristoff, wary of Sven's safety and their own, didn't push their pace near as much as Anna would have liked. She knew they had to be safe. But Elsa! Elsa was in danger, she knew it! They had to get to her.

It was nearly noon when they finally came close to the peak. Anna stood in the sleigh, narrowing her eyes against the driving snow. "Elsa!" she cried out, her voice barely carrying. "Elsa!"

"She can't hear you!" Kristoff shouted. "Sit back down!"

"Elsa! Elsa!"

* * *

Skadi stepped from side to side, surveying the ice mirrors reflecting surroundings. She paid particular attention to one that showed a view of the North Atlantic. It was slowly, tediously, but deliberately freezing over, hardening into a layer of ice dozens of feet thick. She spared a glance back at Elsa. Her icy body pulsed white from the strain, her hands extended in front of her, fingers curled in effort.

But then she glanced back at the mirror reflecting the North Mountain. "My Queen!" Skadi cried. "We are being approached!"

"We are?" Elsa asked.

"Yes," said Skadi. "Can't you see it?"

"All my focus is bent on the ocean," said Elsa. "Who is it? How great is the number?"

Skadi turned back to the mirror. She watched the lonely sleigh come closer and closer. She grinned. "It's an army!" she said. "The people of Arendelle have marshaled all their fighting men to come stop you!"

"Fools," Elsa muttered. "Deal with them! Wipe them out!"

Skadi bit back a laugh. "As you wish, My Queen!" She burst into a snow flurry and blew away.

_Killing, now? You're not really going to let her do that, are you?_

"Yes," Elsa said, the Winter howling in her mind. "I can't be disturbed." She bent her will once more upon the endless ice. "This is how it has to be."

* * *

They were on the slope leading to the stairs leading to the palace; Anna recognized the ascent. Suddenly the snowstorm amplified, doubling or tripling in strength. "Ack!" the Nisse spat, finding it hard to talk without snow flying into his mouth. "This blizzard has grown even worse!"

Anna leaned into the snow. She could hear... something. There was a murmur on the wind. The snow seemed to speak. And its voice was familiar. "That's no blizzard!" Anna shouted. "That's my sis-"

A wall of jagged ice came shooting right at the sleigh. It veered to the side, throwing Anna, Kristoff, and the Nisse out into the powder. Anna rolled to a stop and nearly missed being impaled by a spike of ice; she jumped to her feet and drifted backward, and was almost stuck through by yet another spike. Only the Nisse leaping forward to tackle her out of harm's way saved her. She sat up in the howling storm. "Okay," she said, "maybe that isn't her."

The ice wall began to crack and splinter into pieces... very large, very regular pieces, that knitted themselves into arms and legs and torsos and horrible, howling mouths. Great colossi began to lumber out of the wall, their clawed hands shambling back and forth as their mighty legs churned through the snow. "Oh, boy..." Kristoff rumbled under his breath. He ran to where Sven had skidded to a stop, piling into the back of the sleigh. Digging frantically through hooks and saws and hammers, his hand at last clenched around what he sought. "Go down the slope, Sven!" he yelled, pulling the axe from the sleigh. "Wait for us there! Get to safety!" With a look of fear, Sven complied, and Kristoff brandished the axe toward the approaching ice giants.

"You're a fool..."

"What?" Kristoff swung the axe around toward where he had heard the voice.

"This is the Queen's realm..."

"Come out and show yourself!" Kristoff bellowed, cocking the axe behind his head.

In response, he caught a glimpse of a large figure, a figure with the curves of a woman, sliding through the snowstorm on icy skis. He chased after her, but she had vanished. He did, however, find himself within range of Anna and the Nisse. His heart skipped a beat. They were running from the ice giants, the Nisse dragging Anna behind him as he moved the fastest his small legs could carry him.

"Hurry!" the Nisse shouted, pulling Anna away from a huge, swiping claw. Anna suddenly tripped. The ice giant hurled itself at her, its claws came down-

And suddenly she was a hundred feet away from all of them, the Nisse clutching her tightly. "Are you all right?" he asked.

"Did you...?" Anna glanced from the now further off ice colossi back to the Nisse. "Did you do that?"

"Of course!" the Nisse said proudly. "How do you think I get from house to house on Christmas Eve! Not by walking and climbing and stumbling, I can tell you that much."

The wheels spun fast in Anna's mind. "Can you... get us past them?" Anna asked. "Can you get us closer to the ice palace?"

"I suppose I could," said the Nisse. "But why?"

"Kristoff!" Anna cried. "Kristoff, where are you!" She had to yell at the top of her lungs over the howling wind.

"I'm here!" Kristoff shouted, running toward her. "We have to stop those things!" He brandished his axe at the ice giants, coming closer and closer.

"We have to get to Elsa!" Anna said. "She's the one behind all this!" She turned back to the Nisse. "Master Nisse, get me past those giants! Get me as close to the palace as you can!"

"Why?" the Nisse asked, fear in his voice. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to talk to my sister!"

* * *

Elsa's heart was cold and dead. Well, she didn't have a physical heart any more, but the space where it might have been was frozen solid with apathy and contempt. She would crush everything in her path, because that was what Winter was meant for. That was what she needed to do.

_But... but..._

The voice- her voice, her old voice- was weak and feeble.

* * *

"Please, get me past the giants!" Anna said. "I can stop this! I know I can!"

The Nisse glanced up at her. "But you could be killed! I won't have the end of Arendelle's line on my hands."

"Master Nisse," Anna knelt down and put her gentle hands around his shoulders, "please, please do this for me. Trust me. I love my sister. I know her. She'll stop this. I know she will."

His beady eyes peered into hers for a long while. She bit her lip, which was horribly chapped from the cold, and waited with unease in her heart. But at last the Nisse nodded. "Very well. I'll jump you past the giants. You'll have to hold your breath, though, or it will be quite nauseous for you."

"Okay!" Anna said. "I'm ready!" She sucked in a breath.

"You!" the Nisse pointed at Kristoff. "Don't you die on me, boy! I'll be right back!" And the two of them vanished-

Only to reappear far behind the ice colossi. They were at the foot of the stairs leading up to Elsa's ice palace. The snow there was a _wall_, so thick that Anna could stick out her hand and touch it. "Go back and help Kristoff!" Anna cried. The Nisse nodded and vanished. "Elsa!" she shouted. "Elsa!"

The Nisse reappeared next to Kristoff. Whether from courage or foolishness or both, he had decided to engage the nearest ice giant. He spun around its swiping claws and hacked at its ankles with his axe, chopping away chunks of ice that destabilized the great being. "Allow me!" the Nisse cried. He snapped his fingers at the weakened ankle of the ice giant and what was left of it blew away, causing the thing to tumble to the snowy ground.

"Nice!" Kristoff said, holding out an open palm. The Nisse slapped it, and the two shared a glance worthy of comrades in battle.

But their glee was short lived. The ice colossus flexed its massive leg, and new ice sprouted where the old ice had been chopped off. In short order, the foot and ankle had been regrown, and the great giant roared as it heaved itself back to its feet. And this was all while the other giants- there were five more- had borne down on Kristoff and the Nisse. The two of them dashed away, Kristoff swinging his axe wildly to throw off the pursuit.

Anna took a moment to look back on all this. Then she faced the staircase and its wall of snow. "Elsa!" she shouted. "Elsa, please, I know you're in there! And I know this isn't you! The Winter's taken control of your mind! But I know my sister is still in there, and she would never want to hurt anyone! Especially not the people she cares about! And not random strangers who have never done anything to her, either! Stop this, Elsa! I believe in you!"

The snowstorm around Anna intensified. It was so cold. It was shockingly, offensively cold. Cold enough to drive Anna to her knees and turn her lips blue. "Elsa!" she still shouted. "Elsa, I love you! I love you more than anyone else in the world, even Kristoff!" She put her hands to her mouth and shouted at the top of her lungs into the snowy mess. "Elsa! I love you! Elsa! _Elsa! __**ELSA!"**_

* * *

_** "ELSA!**_"

"Anna!" Elsa gasped.

Her whole icy body suddenly lit up red, like light refracting through a snowflake. Like warm water bubbling up through a layer of ice, something came _up_ out of the depths of Elsa's soul. Warmth. Light. Love. Closeness. Memories of the laughter of her friends, memories of the smiles of her people, memories of the tight, happy embrace of her sister, the person she cared about more than any other in the world. She imagined Anna's smile as she beheld the Christmas tree for the first time. She imagined Anna's sorrow as Elsa disappeared into a burst of snow. And she imagined Anna's shock, Anna's horror, Anna's sadness at witnessing what her sister had become.

"Anna!" Elsa gasped, and the Winter in her was quieted, her own self, her true self swirling like a hot breeze into her icy body. "Anna!" She looked at the floating ice globe. She looked at the mirrors reflecting wintry devastation around the world. "What have I done?" Elsa gasped. "What am I doing? What am I _doing_? Anna, forgive me!" She stretched out her mind and peered through her trillion eyes, heard through her trillion ears. No deaths. Thank God! No deaths, not yet. But too many people suffering. Too many people trapped. Too many people on the verge of starving or freezing or falling into despair. "Stop!" she shouted, sweeping her arms wide in one great arc. "Stop! Stop this at once! _Stop!_"

And across the world, across the whole of the Northern Hemisphere, the Winter _stopped_. Snowstorms collapsed and dissipated. Ice blasts were halted. The freezing of the ocean came abruptly to a stop, and what ice there was cracked into huge chunks and floated in the water newly freed. Glaciers dissolved. All that was abnormal and strange, everything Elsa had done, was withdrawn as much as was natural, until where there was normal Winter, there Winter was normal- and no more than that.

"Anna!" Elsa cried, satisfied that she had halted her own damaged. "I'm coming, Anna!" She burst into snow and flew away.

Anna was buried in deep snow when Elsa appeared nearby. She dug herself out, and when she looked around she noticed how warm she felt. It wasn't really warm, of course, but compared to the horrific temperatures of the rest of the day, this was downright balmy. And she noticed that the storm had stopped. She smiled. "Elsa..."

"Anna!" Elsa shouted. Her voice carried on the wind.

Anna turned around and around in the snow, but she saw nothing. Just a mist of sleet and vapor surrounding everywhere.

"Anna!" Elsa shouted.

"Elsa?" Anna asked. "Elsa, where are you?"

"I'm right-" she was abruptly halted when Skadi slid up to her on her skis.

"My Queen!" Skadi said, a look of fury on her face. "You've stopped the storms! You've stopped the freezing! Is something wrong?"

"Something _was_ wrong," Elsa said, her voice growing hard. "I listened to voices that weren't my own. But no more! No more freezing! No more torture! No more causing fear!"

"But My Queen-"

"Enough!" Elsa snapped. "Wait for me until I've spoken with my sister!"

Skadi grit her teeth, but she nevertheless bowed, her frozen body shaking. "As you wish, My Queen." And she skied away.

"Anna..." Elsa whispered, walking across the snow toward her sister. As she did, the wind began to pick up. Snowflakes began to spin through the air. "Anna," she said. The temperature around her icy body began to drop. "Anna," she said sweetly. The wind howled.

"Elsa..." Anna said, turning all around her as the snow once more began to fall. It wasn't a normal storm- oh, no, the snow and ice spun around her in a vortex, picking up speed, dropping in temperature as Elsa got closer. And Anna still could not see her. "Elsa? Elsa, I'm here!"

"Anna!" Elsa said, running forward.

But Elsa burst open. She got within a dozen feet of Anna before her icy body broke apart into a flurry of snow, and the closer she got to Anna, the stronger the personal storm around her grew. Anna stretched out her arms, trying to grab for her sister as the swirling snow forced her eyes shut. She knew she was there, she knew it! If only she could feel her. "Elsa," she said softly. She was losing feeling in her feet and hands.

"Anna!" Elsa shouted, trying to wrap arms she didn't have around her sister. "Anna, I'm here! I want to come back!"

"Elsa..." Anna said softly, falling to her knees. She stretched her gloved hands out for Elsa, but she still wasn't there. All she saw was snow and ice. "Elsa..." It got colder and colder. The snow spun faster and faster. Her cheeks turned blue. "Elsa, please... please stop..."

"I'm trying..." Elsa said, willing herself to be solid, to be warm, to be _human_. But all she was was a storm. "I'm trying, Anna, please stay with me!"

"Elsa..." Anna stretched her arms out again, fingers flexing against the howling wind. She rolled over onto her back. She was numb everywhere, so cold she could scarcely move. "Please..."

"Anna..." Elsa said. She stretched out what she thought were her hands toward her sister, but all she had were bursts of icy wind and snow.

"Anna!" Kristoff's voice cried as he barreled into the snowstorm. He picked Anna up off the ground and rushed the other way with her. Elsa, panicking, followed, and the storm that had swirled around Anna now pursued Kristoff with Anna in his arms. "Hold on, Anna!" Kristoff said. "We have to get you out of this storm!"

_This storm?_ Elsa thought. Her heart- or what she felt was her heart- broke. She tried to look down, but she had no hands. And she had no eyes, just snowflakes that saw and heard. She wasn't even a single figure, not right now. All she was was snow. All she was was Winter. She slowed her pursuit of Kristoff. At last, she came to a stop, allowing him to get further and further away.

"Is she all right?" said a strange little man who popped into existence beside Kristoff. He joined him and they both began to run away.

"She's so cold!" Kristoff told the little man. "We have to get her back down the mountain! We have to get her to warmth!" Then he yelled at the top of his lungs. "Sven! Sven, buddy! Get up here!"

As they got further away, Elsa's icy body began to reform. They were a hundred feet away by the time she was solid again, and she could faintly see Sven pull up to them, fastened to the sleigh. They loaded Anna into the back, and Kristoff piled into the sleigh with the little man beside him. A distant whip of the reins issued against the snowy rock, and the sled made a wide circle before turning and moving away.

"Why?" Elsa said, her voice one of absolute despair. "Why?"

"Haven't you figured it out?" Skadi's voice sliced through the snowy silence. "Don't you understand? You can't be close to people any more. You're not fit for the company of humans. You're over them, above them, beyond them."

"I don't want that!" Elsa snapped, turning around. Her body began to pulse with red light. "There's no point in having all this power, all this freedom, if I can't be with the people I love!"

"You don't need people to love any more!" Skadi snapped. "You have the Winter as your lover. The snow and the ice are your friends! That's all you need!"

"Maybe that's all you need," Elsa said, "but I need more. I'm not just some Winter spirit. You said I was more whole and complete than any person who had joined with the Winter before, and that's because there's so much of _me_ left in me! I have to love! I have to live! I have to laugh and cry and smile!"

Skadi scowled down at Elsa. "You can't, My Queen. You're not permitted."

"Than I don't want any more part in this!" Elsa said, turning away. "I want to end my union with the Winter. I want to be human again."

"You can't!" Skadi yelled. "You can't! I've waited too long!"

"I hate to disappoint you," Elsa said, "but I must. Goodbye, Skadi." And she...

… Wait, what was she doing? Elsa wracked her mind. How, exactly, had she joined with the Winter in the first place? She recalled standing in the snowstorm, looking up into the night, and... breathing, somehow? There was a breath involved, she was sure of it. But the details were so hazy. She scarcely remembered how it had happened. But maybe breathing was the key. She took a deep breath...

Nothing happened. She breathed out as hard as she could...

Still nothing. "Skadi," she turned back to the great jötunn.

Who smiled cruelly down at her. "What's wrong, My _Queen_? Can't break the union?"

"No," said Elsa. "I don't know how. Please tell me."

Skadi bounced her head from side to side, peering down at Elsa with her deep blue eyes. She bent over very slowly, until her face was right next to Elsa's, and said, very viciously, "No!"

"Please!" Elsa pleaded. "Please, please, I don't know how to do it! Please, you've got to tell me!"

"I shall not!" Skadi bellowed, rising to her full height. She loomed over Elsa, huge and cold and terrible. "I have waited _too long_ for someone like you to come around! Too long my Winter has been without a proper mistress, without someone to command it fully! And now that one has appeared, I won't lose her just because her _feelings_ happened to crop up at an inconvenient time!"

"Please!" Elsa said, her voice almost a sob. "Please!"

"No!" Skadi snapped, turning and walking away. Elsa grabbed for her heel. Skadi shook the smaller woman free so that she sprawled into the snow. Skadi glanced back over her shoulder. "Pitiful. Pathetic. No, My Queen, you will remain joined with the Winter. I shall never, _ever_ tell you how to return to your human form, and you will stay united to the cold and snow until you realize that it is your _destiny_ to make Winter strong again! And if that takes ten years, a hundred years, a thousand years while you watch everything you know and love wither and die, so be it!" Skadi burst apart into a flurry of snow that billowed away on the wind.

Elsa sank to her knees. She did not, strictly speaking, cry. Her ice body had no tear ducts, so no liquid fell. But she sobbed. She sobbed and sobbed and sobbed, shoulders wracking with terrible grief, as afternoon gave way to evening, and the sky turned slowly dark.


	7. This Holy Tide Of Christmas

Last chapter. Final push! LET'S DO THIS!

* * *

Chapter 7

"Elsa..." Anna murmured. As her senses returned to her, she noticed she was warm. Warm and soft. For the second time in about four days, she was lounging in her bed, and just like the last time she had been laid low by cold. And just as before, she shot bolt upright and shouted, "Elsa!"

"Easy there," said a gentle, firm voice. She turned and saw the palace physician pass her a glass of something tall and milky. "You're lucky to have all your fingers and toes."

"Anna!" Kristoff shouted, dashing to the bed. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Anna said, pushing the glass away. The physician pushed it back at her, so she finally snatched it and downed nearly the entire thing in one gulp. "I'm- _cough_- fine," she gagged, taking a breath. She then gulped down the rest of the concoction, and tried to vault out of bed. "We have to go back!"

"No, we don't," Kristoff said.

"You're in no condition to go back up that mountain," said the physician. "Besides, Princess Anna, is that really how you want to spend your Christmas Eve?"

"Christmas... Eve?" Anna repeated, glancing out the window. It was dark outside. "What time is it?"

"Just about eight o'clock," said Kristoff, glancing at the great clock on Anna's mantle.

"Eight..." Anna said softly. She sniffed, tears springing to her eyes. "Mass..."

"Hmm?" said Kristoff.

The physician looked from one to the other. "I'll leave you two alone," he said, gently rising from his seat and showing himself out.

"Elsa said Archbishop Hageback wanted her to go to Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve," Anna said. Tears rolled down her cheeks. "We were going to go together... we were going to go as... a family."

Kristoff held her as she shoulders wracked. "I'm sorry," he said. "But... maybe you should go! You and I."

"No!" Anna wept. "No, not without Elsa! It's not the same."

"Anna," Kristoff said, "with her gone, you're the acting regent. She would want you to go, to make things right. And... maybe it will help."

"How?" Anna bawled. "Kristoff, I heard her- I thought I saw her- she was _so close_!" Dozens of hot tears spilled down Anna's face. "But she's gone! I think she's really gone, gone forever! She'll never come back!"

"You don't know that," Kristoff said, his own voice growing thick with sadness. "We can't... we can't be sure. But for tonight, I think we should get dressed up and go. We can sit in the royal balcony, just where Elsa would be. And maybe..." he glanced to the side and whispered, "maybe..."

"What?" Anna asked, wiping her eyes.

"Well... the trolls always told me that Christmas Eve was one of the most magical times of the year. They said it was... transcendent. Maybe... maybe if you make a wish, and you wish hard enough... something will happen."

"I just don't know," Anna said. "I don't think I believe in wishes coming true any more." She drew her knees up to her chest. She looked between them, breathing in, breathing out. Finally, she took one great breath and looked across the bed at Kristoff. "But you're right. I need to go. For Elsa." She crawled out of bed. "I'll have to start deciding what to wear..."

* * *

In the cold and lonely ice palace, Elsa sat on her icy knees and bawled. Again, no tears ran from her eyes, but it did not make her sobbing any less intense, nor did the hours she had already spent weeping. She wanted to die. She wanted to crack herself and be blown away to nothing. At least then, she wouldn't have to feel so hopeless and alone.

_I was a fool,_ she thought. She had been so caught up in the thrill of Winter's power and grace and might, she had totally forgotten all the love she was leaving behind. Anna's presence had reminded her, had shocked her into rediscovering herself, buried in the snowstorm of the Winter's terrible soul. But now that she was in her right mind again, all she felt was grief: incalculable, overwhelming grief. Why didn't she resist the Winter's tug? She'd been so afraid of it, and she had been right to be. It had taken everything from her. It had taken her kingdom, her people, her friends, and most of all it had taken away her sister, the person she most desperately wanted to draw into a warm embrace. Warm- the Winter had even taken away her warmth. She was lonely and cold and empty, dark and frigid like the palace that surrounded her. Her shoulders heaved with sobs again. Between crying, she sang softly.

_Sadness swirls within me like the snow,_

_I've frozen out the only friend I'll ever know._

_Never again holding hands in summer sun,_

_Nor ever again having part in joy and fun._

_My soul is empty, with no heart inside._

_I want to run away, I want to go and hide._

_To flee this yawning emptiness within my chest,_

_Perhaps the dear old Stoics really did know best._

_I'd rather not feel, rather go and die,_

_Than live another minute of this frozen lie._

_There's no hope here, no happy end for me,_

_So maybe I should just... not... be._

Elsa bent so low her forehead touched the floor, crying hard all over again. The world was black and cold and filled with no one except her.

But then... she heard something. It was soft, and faint at first, but even as she raised back up to a kneeling position it was growing louder. She could hear it outside her palace, hear it in the cold night air that was for once perfectly still. It sounded, very faintly, like bells. And as they grew louder still, she could distinguish them further. Not just any bells- they were sleigh bells. They grew louder and louder, gentle and delightful, until abruptly they stopped. Elsa sighed. Tourists from Arendelle and even beyond would often ride up the North Mountain to see her ice palace and marvel at its beauty. Clearly a group had ridden by for a Christmas Eve treat, to see the magnificent icework illuminated by the starlight. They were gone now. She was all alone again.

_Rap-rap-rap!_

Elsa shot to her feet. Someone was _knocking_, knocking on the door to her palace. But she stood in place. They were just having fun. They'd go away soon.

_Rap-rap-rap!_

"Queen Elsa?" a voice called through the ice door. "Queen Elsa, are you in there? I should love to see you, Your Majesty!"

Elsa dashed to the door. As she got closer, she could see a faint silhouette outside, and it was crowned with the distinct rounded point of a miter. "Archbishop Hageback?" she whispered. What on earth was he doing this far up the mountain? Especially on Christmas Eve? She didn't know exactly what time it was, but Midnight Mass couldn't have been far away.

"Your Majesty?" the voice called through the door again, strong and steady.

"C-coming!" Elsa said, walking to the door. She clutched the ornate ice handles for a moment. He wouldn't be able to see her. She would vanish into snow and fog, just as she had with Anna. But maybe... She threw the doors open.

"Hello there, Your Majesty!" a voice boomed down at her. "Are you all right? You look different. And I'm not sure it's a good different."

"You... you can see me?" Elsa said. She clutched all over her icy body. "I'm whole! I'm not a fog of snow! You can see me!"

"Why shouldn't I be able to see you?" the voice asked again. A hand reached out and fell onto her shoulder. "How are you?"

"I... I..." Elsa suddenly focused on the owner of the hand and the voice. "You're not Hageback."

Indeed, he was not. She couldn't see all his details in the darkness, but it was clear that he was a heavier, sturdier man than the thin Hageback. And even in the darkness, she could tell his face was adorned with a long white beard. But he was clearly a member of the Church hierarchy, for he wore the red robes of an archbishop, and in addition to his miter he carried a shepherd's crook.

"No," said the archbishop, "no, I am not. I am a colleague of his. Someone I trust and love told me that you were in distress, and I wanted to come see if you were all right." He leaned forward. "Are you?"

"I..." Elsa looked up into his face. It was shadowed, hard to see, but she caught the twinkle of eyes. "No," she said, choosing to be honest. She glanced away. "I'm miserable. I've lost everything I've ever loved, and I'm all alone."

"Why, that's terrible!" the archbishop said. "No one should be alone on Christmas Eve."

"I can agree with that," Elsa said. "Would you like to come in, Your Excellency?"

The archbishop glanced past her into the darkness of the ice palace. "It seems rather gloomy in there," he said. "I've got a better idea. Why don't you come have a ride with me? We can go down the mountain and see the lights of Arendelle. The city is beautiful tonight, with candles in every window, fires in every hearth. I think it might brighten your spirits a little."

Elsa wasn't sure she belonged near Arendelle any more, not after she had turned her back on her kingdom and her people. But she desperately wished not to be alone, and if a ride was what the stranger wanted, she would oblige. Besides, though she had scarcely known him five minutes, she greatly enjoyed his company. Something about him made her feel warm, warm in a way she hadn't thought she was capable of in her icy state. "All right," said Elsa. "That sounds like fun."

"Splendid!" said the archbishop, putting an arm around her shoulders. "Come along now, we don't want to delay." He led her down the steps of the palace, down the long ice staircase that bridged the gulf between the palace and the slope below. At the bottom of the staircase, Elsa saw a beautiful sleigh, covered all over with ornate carvings and patterns. It was pulled by four sturdy reindeer, four reindeer much more noble and majestic than Sven, bless his heart. Their fur was white and their antlers were long.

The archbishop helped Elsa up into the sleigh, then he got in the other side and grabbed at the reins. He gave them a flick. "Dash away, my boys!" and the reindeer began to move, pulling the sleigh down the slope. The bells fastened to their harnesses began once more to chime, as beautiful a sound as Elsa had ever heard.

"So, My Queen," said the archbishop, "why were you all alone in there? As I said, no one should be alone on Christmas Eve."

"I..." Elsa glanced to the side. They were moving very fast, faster than four reindeer should have been able to pull a sleigh. They seemed to glide over the snow, no bumps or jostles ruining the smooth ride. "I gave up my humanity," she said. "I turned my back on everything I knew and loved because I was foolish enough to crave the Winter's power."

"Winter is a strong season," said the archbishop. "Its call is powerful. Few can resist, even those with strong wills."

"But I should have been able to resist!" Elsa said. "I should have been able to block it out. Now I've lost my kingdom, and my people, and my friends... and especially my sister."

"Do you love all of them?"

"Without question," Elsa said. "Especially my sister. My sister is the only family I have. I... I would do anything for her. And I'd do anything to be back by her side." She glanced sadly down at her feet. "I hope she went to Mass tonight. I hope she represented us proudly, even though I know she must be sad."

They were really moving down the mountain. They zoomed past Wandering Oaken's at a rapid pace, but Elsa still didn't feel hurried or stressed. She still felt sadness, however, and her forlorn face more than revealed that. The archbishop looked carefully at her icy visage, his twinkling eyes passing over her heartbroken expression. "Your Majesty," he said. "I should like to ask a rather probing question, one that will require me to violate the bonds of propriety for a moment. Would that be all right? If you have no interest, I won't broach the subject."

"Propriety?" Elsa repeated. "You've done enough for me to earn a breach of propriety, Your Excellency. Ask your question, please. I'd be happy to answer it."

"Wonderful," said the archbishop. He stroked his long beard. "Tell me, Queen Elsa of Arendelle: have you been a good girl this year?"

"A good...?" Elsa stammered, unsure of how to take the question. Something in her desperately wanted to respond in the affirmative. But with a tired, weary heart, she knew she had to tell the truth. "No," she said, clutching her sides and hunching over. "No, I haven't." The sled was far down the mountain now. Arendelle's lights were gleaming up golden in the darkness. "As I said, I turned my back on the kingdom I rule and the sister I love to chase my foolish thirst for Winter. I abandoned them, and I'm their queen. I shirked my responsibility." She shuddered. "And when I was in Winter's grip, I tried to freeze half the world. I caused terrible devastation."

"But the Winter was strong," said the archbishop, casually flicking the sleigh's reins. "It wormed into your mind and altered your thoughts. You became something other than yourself, not acting in accord with your true nature." He looked down at her; was he smiling? "And when you did return to your right mind- when your sister's call broke Winter's spell- you undid all that you had done. You corrected your mistakes."

Elsa's eyes bulged. How did he know that? "But... but even before that!" Elsa said. "This summer, during my coronation. I froze all of Arendelle in eternal winter! I caused so much hardship, and I even struck my sister. She nearly froze to death."

"But she didn't," said the archbishop. "Her own love- her love for _you_- thawed her frozen heart. And when she showed you love, you loved in return, and through that love, you were able to break your magic's grip on Arendelle." He _was_ smiling, his cheeks round and rosy. "I see a pattern here, My Queen. You have amazing, indescribable power, so overwhelming that it sometimes gets the best of you. You're still learning to control it, to wield it, and occasionally you use it wrongly. But you never intend harm when you're of sound mind. And as soon as you're able to do so, you fix what you've broken. You show kindness, gentleness, and mercy." He put a hand on her shoulder. "And I think kindness, gentleness, and mercy are the signs of a good heart. I think, Queen Elsa of Arendelle, that you have indeed been a good girl this year."

The sleigh came slowly to a stop. They were on level ground. As Elsa looked up, she saw the lights blazing before her. They were just a few hundred feet from the gates of the city, glowing brightly with candles and flames. The light from all that fire caught the gold and silver hung throughout the city, made the baubles and crafted stars twinkle, turning all she saw into a dream of silver and gold. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. And she wanted so, so desperately to come back to it.

"And good girls deserve to have their behavior rewarded!" said the archbishop- or whoever, whatever he was. His face was so gentle and kind as he smiled down at Elsa. "So, My Queen... what would you like for Christmas?"

Though her body was ice, Elsa's throat constricted. She was breathing hard. "You know, I think," she said between breaths. "You know. But can you...?"

The archbishop said nothing. His gloved hands suddenly began to weave together, shaping something out of the cold air. Elsa's eyes went wide, her mouth came open. His hands twisted around each other, and suddenly in between them was a _breath_, a wispy white breath. Elsa gasped. She knew what it was. "Here you are," said the archbishop, passing it to her. It hovered in her icy hands, glowing faintest white. "Breathe it in, My Queen."

Elsa fought back sobs. And she did as she was told: she held the breath to her mouth and nose and breathed in hard as she could. The breath sucked itself inside her. She coughed hard, gagging on the intake of feeling.

_Feeling..._ Elsa thought. That was what it was. Not any one particular feeling, but the multi-fold sensation of feeling again, of sensing where before there was no sense, washed over her. She felt... cold. She felt cold! She hadn't felt anything in her icy body, but now the cold washed over her, and her cheeks stung from it. She put her fingers to her cheeks- and her fingers sank into her skin! Her _skin_! Tears sprang to her eyes. She had tears! She could cry again! She waved her hand and conjured a mirror of ice. She looked into it. She was... back. She was back! Her skin was pale, but peachy, real, true skin. Her hair was real hair, very light blond. Her eyes were glinting shiny blue. And she wore one of her ice dresses, which again felt cold against her skin. She was back. She was real. She was human!

"How do you like it?" the archbishop said gently.

"Thank you!" Elsa cried, reaching up and wrapping her arms around his neck. "Oh, thank you, Your Excellency! Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Do not thank me," said the archbishop. "Rather thank the one who sent me. Thank the one who looks down on you, Queen Elsa, and remember always that you are loved. Now I think you need to get going," he gestured toward the gates. "You have Mass to attend, don't you?"

"Yes!" Elsa said, vaulting out of the sleigh. "Yes, thank you! Thank you so much! You'll always be welcome in Arendelle!"

"That's wonderful to hear! Ha ha ha!" the archbishop laughed, a rumbling, wonderful sound, deep and melodious like a musical instrument. "Ha ha ha! Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night! Ha ha ha!" He flicked the reins of his sleigh and his reindeer obliged, vaulting him off through the woods and into the darkness.

Elsa watched him go, waving even when he was long gone. She just wanted to _move_. To twitch, to grin, to chuckle, to walk, to do everything in a way that she could feel again- could _feel_, feel with the motion of her bones and muscle and fat and skin. She had a body again! A real, human body! The thing she'd feared was lost forever had come back to her. And she was eternally grateful, to the archbishop and whoever had sent him. And now she had to-

"Do you think this is the end?"

Elsa whirled around, her ice dress' cape swirling as she did. A huge figure loomed in the snowy trees. "Show yourself," Elsa said.

Skadi stepped out of the darkness. As she drew closer, Elsa noticed that she had an aura of cold around her, something she could never have felt in her icy body. The temperature dropped the closer she got, and it was only Elsa's tolerance for the cold that kept her from shivering. She stopped just before Elsa and scowled down at her. "Do you think this is the end of your troubles, My Queen?"

"I think I've learned my lesson," Elsa said, her eyes like steel. "I think I will never again cause harm to anyone innocent, no thanks to you."

"You are a fool!" Skadi snapped. "You had absolute power in your grasp and you threw it away- for what? A chance to giggle and coo with the fleshy idiots you call subjects?"

"For the warmth and touch of the people I love," Elsa said. "There's no point in having power if it comes at the cost of love. I should have realized that from the start. But I see it now. And the knowledge gives me the strength to resist the tug of Winter. No matter what you say." Her face's expression changed. "I wish you could understand what I'm talking about. I feel bad that you seem incapable of love. But I think that's how you were made, and even I'm not powerful enough to change that. Goodbye, Skadi." She turned and began to walk away.

"Do you _think_ this is the _end_?" Skadi bellowed, asking a third time. "No, My Queen, I assure you, it is not! Do you think you've felt Winter's tug for the final time? You have not! _Every_ time Autumn comes toward its ending, _every_ year the Winter draws close you will feel the _itch_, for as long as you live! And you will live long, My Queen, a long, long, long time- it's in your nature. You'll feel the itch every year! Every year until your sister and your people and your kingdom and everything you care for have faded away to nothing, and all that's left for you- the only thing that will pick you up and wrap you in its arms- will be the Winter. You cannot escape!"

Elsa stopped, her back stiffening. She turned slowly around. Her eyes sparkled as she glared at Skadi. "You don't know me," she said. "You know nothing about me. You only know what you want me to be. So let me tell you something right now, O Skadi. I love my sister. I love my friends. I love my people, and I love my kingdom. I love all of them more than you can possibly understand, and their love will give me strength when I'm at my weakest. Maybe I will eventually outlive them all, but until that day comes, I'll stay strong for them. I will walk the knife's edge each Winter, balancing its pull with their push- and if I have to, I'll do it every year for the rest of my life. And I won't succumb, Skadi, not again. Once is enough. I'll never be your champion, and I want nothing more to do with you."

Skadi's blue face twisted with wrath. "If all those things are keeping you from being what I want, they need to _die_! I'll wipe them all out, starting with your wretched sister-" she took a step forward, leaning toward Arendelle with icy fury.

"Stop!" Elsa snapped. "Stop at once!" She waved her hand.

And Skadi _stopped_. She shuddered to a halt, though it looked like every fiber of her being wanted to keep moving forward. She clenched her teeth, fidgeted and vibrated... but stayed where she stood.

Elsa's eyes widened. At first she was confused. But she had a quick mind- and with a burst of insight, she understood. "All those times," she said, "all those times when I asked you nicely for something- when I said please, when I begged- you turned down my requests. But whenever I _ordered_ you to do something, you always did it... didn't you?" A smile twitched the corners of her mouth. "I don't ask the cold and snow to do things. I _command_ them. And that means I command you... doesn't it?" Skadi kept scowling. "Answer me," Elsa said firmly.

"Y-yes," Skadi bit out, looking like she wanted to choke on the words.

Elsa waved her hand away dismissively. "Begone," she said. "Leave now, and never, ever bother me or Arendelle ever again."

"As... as you wish," Skadi stammered.

Elsa couldn't resist- "As you wish... what?"

Skadi glared with hatred at her. "As you wish, _My Queen_."

"Good," said Elsa. "Now go."

Skadi burst into a flurry of snow and ice. It swirled around Elsa, moaning with fury and hate. But it couldn't hurt her. None of the flakes even touched her. And when its impotent rage was spent, it spun up into the dark sky and hurried away to parts she could not see.

Elsa huffed a breath. She was lucky things had turned out as they had- she had been prepared to fight Skadi. Fortunately, it hadn't come to that.

**DONG!**

Elsa's back stiffened. She turned toward the gates of the city.

**DONG! DONG! DONG!**

The cathedral's bells were ringing, and Elsa knew what hour they tolled. She flung her ice cape behind her and hurried toward the gates.

**DONG! DONG!**

* * *

Anna knelt down on the padded kneeler in the royal balcony, the one at the back of the cathedral. She could look down and see the entire interior from here, and she noticed how full it was. Most of the city was here, huddled in the pews. There were husbands and wives, mothers and fathers and children, brothers and sisters... Anna's eyes stung. She wiped at them, trying to keep from bursting again into tears. She had been crying all the way from the castle, but she needed to be strong now.

**DONG! DONG! DONG!**

Archbishop Hageback stood at the altar below. He looked up to the balcony, saw Anna there along with Kristoff, who cut a surprisingly dashing figure in his finest clothes. But he noticed the raised seat at the back of the balcony was empty, and his sad expression told the story. He walked back down the central aisle, preparing to formally enter with the procession.

**DONG! DONG! DONG!**

Midnight. It was time.

As the organ played and the opening hymn was sung, fresh tears leaked from Anna's eyes. She had been looking forward to this moment, when she and Elsa would be together as a _family_ on _Christmas Eve_, and now here she was, all alone. She had Kristoff, and she was grateful for his strength, but she was still alone in the worst of ways.

Still kneeling, she glanced up to the vaulted ceiling of the cathedral. "I... this is a very confusing time to know what to believe," she whispered. "Elsa is always talking about stuff from the mainland, about things like the world-spirit and the modern age and Hegelianism and, and I don't know what." She choked back a sob. "But please, please, whoever's listening, please let Elsa come back. Please bring my sister back to me! Please!" She couldn't take it any more. She buried her head against the stone railing and wept.

She was crying so intently that she failed to hear the door to the balcony creak open. Kristoff did- his eyes went wide, but the motion of a delicate hand kept him silent. Likewise, Anna did not notice Archbishop Hageback glance once more up to the balcony, and she didn't see his expression change from one of sadness to one of joy.

But she did feel the weight of someone kneeling beside her on the cushion. With a burst of anger, she turned to glare at whoever had invaded the space that was meant only for her and-

"E-Elsa?"

Elsa- her sister!- Elsa smiled gently at her, kneeling beside her at the railing. She was clad in another of her ice dresses, this one a deep glacial blue; it was very elegant, but modestly cut, ideal for Mass. But who cared what she wore? It was _Elsa_! Elsa, alive and in the flesh!

"You!" Anna said, tears bursting from her eyes again. "You're alive! You're alive! Alive, alive, alive!" She lunged at Elsa and hugged her fiercely.

Elsa wrapped her own arms around her sister, laying her cheek against Anna's and relishing in the warmth. "Merry Christmas, Anna," she whispered. She clutched her sister tightly, as tight as she possibly could.

**THE END**

**MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYBODY! Especially you, /co/ and /frz/!**


End file.
